Iron Man: War Monger
by Marvel-FanFiction-Universe
Summary: #1 of my MFFU. Tony Stark created the War Machine armour for the US Military, it's pilot, Colonel James Rhodes. Now, Rhodes is a changed man, but changed for the better?
1. Chapter 1

IRON MAN VERSUS THE WAR MACHINE

Author's note.

I have developed this story from several ideas I have seen in the Marvel Studio's films, several comics, fanfics I have read (and yes, I have permission, you will see disclaimers in any chapters that use something thats not mine) and TV shows such as Armoured Adventures, and Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

The Tony you see I have tried to copy from the films, but this story is using the very same actors from the films as well, so Robert Downey Jr as Tony, Don Cheadle as Rhodey, Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper and Samuel L/ Jackson as Nick Fury.

I feel I should explain some of the ideas that I put into this story to make it original and one of my own creations…but that would ruin the story, wouldn't it?

****DISCLAIMER #1****

Obviously, I _dont_ own Iron Man...but it would be a perfect world if I _did_...or, y'know, _WAS_ Iron Man...Everything Iron Man, Tony Stark, War Machine and Jimmy Rhodes is all owned by Stan Lee and the Marvel Comics genius.

**Chapter 1, Pollution, 2005**

Lieutenant James Rhodes ran across the sand, firing his machine gun as a group followed behind him. He drove behind the cover of a blown-out car, and checked his gun.  
"Damnit!" He yelled when he realised he was out of ammo. He tossed the gun uselessly to the side.  
"Sir? Should we be leaving Stark weapons layin' around like that?" A Texan guy asked him, firing over the side of the car.  
"No," Rhodey muttered, and looked up into the sky.  
The Texan looked up and saw a large cargo plane flying overhead, quite low, with gunners on the wings firing down at the men they couldn't reach.  
"Is…is that it, sir?" the Texan asked.  
Rhodey looked at the Texan with a glint in his eye. He picked out an ear piece from a pocket on his uniform and slid it onto his ear.  
"You took your time, Tony, but it's perfect," he said.

On the plane, Tony Stark was typing away at a computer, initialising the run program for the package. He smirked slightly at his best friends words and shook his head.  
"You do know that the US Army likes to be dramatic." Stark pointed out, and finalised the run program. He sat back in the chair, which was bolted to the floor. "Try not to break this one."  
"_If you hurried up with those upgrades then you wouldn't have to keep fixing it, Tony,_" Rhodey said, "_Just drop the thing already!_" he yelled as a barrage of gunfire hit the car.  
Tony rolled his eyes and got up. He went to the box near the rear door of the cargo plan, hanging onto a rope that hung from the roof of the plane. "It's got a minor systems upgrade from last time, the targeting system is more accurate…sorry about that," Tony said with another smirk.  
"…_Are you smirking?_" Rhodey asked.  
Tony's smirk faltered slightly, "No." he lied and pulled the lever that dropped the large metal box out of the plane, crashing down to the desert floor.

Rhodey pulled the earpiece out, not even thanking his best friend as the plane flew away. He got up and yelled to his troops to cover him as he made his way to the box.  
"_Access code._" J.A.R.V.I.S.' voice said.  
"Eighteen, nine, thirty-one, B-B-I-T-H." Rhodey yelled over the noise of an explosion.  
There was a loud hiss and as the airtight box was opened, and a loud sucking noise as air rushed in, and the lid slid back in two halves.

A few moments later the War Machine climbed out of the box and was immediately hit was a wall of machine gun fire. The armour whirred as he turned and the large minigun on his shoulder started to whirl quickly, a constant buzz droning as it did so, before bullet shells began dropping across the metal armour beneath the gun and into the sand.  
Iraqi insurgents yelled out as bullets tore through their legs while they tried to run.  
"_Okay, Rhodey, back it off!_" Tony's voice came through the audio link. Back on the plane, Tony had a multi-screen interface set up with what Rhodey could see on the main screen, Rhodey's face on the screen to his right, with Rhodey's vital signs above that. On the screen to his left showed the suit's composition and vital signs, which would show damaged sections, giving Tony a detailed overview of the damage, and the screen above that showed a constantly-updating map of the battle-zone.  
"Why?" Rhodey asked, his voice had turned slightly dark now. The heads-up-display showed the Iraqi residents in red; some cowering behind walls and burnout cars, others writhing around in the dirt clutching their bloody legs. "They're scum, Tony, they deserve this," Rhodey continued, walking towards the terrorists.  
"_Listen t' me, Rhodes,_" said a new voice, General Nicholas Fury, "_If you don't stand down right now, I'm goin' to strip you of your rank and have you cleanin' out toilets back in boot camp quicker than you can blink._"  
Rhodey grimaced, "Yes, sir," he grumbled and the helmet slid back, "Congratulations," he said to the groaning enemies.  
He then looked up when he heard engines and saw several H1 Hummers driving away.  
"General, multiple targets fleeing to the west," Rhodey said, "Permission to follow?"  
There was a pause, in which Rhodey's heads-up-display zoomed in to see the Hummers driving away.  
"_Okay Rhodes, no funny business._" Fury's voice said after a few more seconds.  
Rhodey didn't hesitate, and proceeded to turn, and bark orders at his troops to tie up the injured Iraqi's and call for collection, before taking off into the air after the Hummers. He pinpointed each of the 3 trucks as they drove across the desert, and highlighted them in red on his HUD.  
"Tony, are the mini-missile's online yet?"  
"_5 more minutes boss,_" Tony's voice responded.  
Rhodey cursed silently.  
"_Good._" Came Fury's voice faintly, then more loudly, "_I told you Rhodes, no kills. S.H.I.E.L.D. has questions._"  
Rhodey rolled his eyes and began a steady dive, calculating the stopping time and location of the hummers, and where he should land.  
He thudded into the ground and looked up, the eyes on the mask glowed slightly red as he stared through the sand at the Hummers as the occupants yelled and slid across the sand to a halt.

Rhodey straightened and lifted his hands, aiming the repulsors at the wheels, and firing off a few quick bursts, immobilising each Hummer in turn. There were several yells and bullets started to thud into the War Machine, so hard that Rhodey had to take a few steps back.  
"What the hell, Tony?" he asked.  
"_Two seconds,_" Tony said and Rhodey could hear him thudding down keys on the keyboard, "_Can you get closer to their guns? I need to see a make or model_,"  
Rhodey gritted his teeth, "Not a chance, these bullets are like getting hit with the rubber practice bullets in the barracks."  
"_They'll have to reload soon_Lieutenant", Tony retorted.  
He had a point.

Rhodey lifted his arms to protect his helmet and grunted with each hit, then felt a tear as a bullet impacted near his stomach, but luckily didn't injure him.  
He tried moving forward but there was a yell, and a couple of the terrorists started to run as Rhodey jumped towards them, but was thrown backwards by a large explosion. He rolled backwards in the dirt, and came to a rest facing the sky.  
There was a loud buzzing in his ears and his eyes couldn't focus. His arms and legs felt heavy and he realised the War Machine armor's power source had failed.  
The HUD crackled back to life and he could faintly hear Tony in his ears.

Back on the US soil, Fury was yelling at Rhodey, asking him a lot of rhetorical questions, and Rhodey was just watching Fury's feet as he walked back and forth.  
"What did you think you were doing?" Fury asked, "Do you think you're judge, jury _and_ executioner when you put on that suit?"  
Rhodey looked up briefly, "I thought our job was to neutralise any threat against the USA?"  
"You did that by getting them to the ground," Fury told him, "You were about to kill them!"  
Rhodey flashed him a dark look, "Cleaning toilets back in boot camp seems better than this, maybe I should have killed them." He muttered.  
Fury blinked, and shook his head.  
"You're being given a warning, it's going on your record. You've got one more chance." Fury told Rhodey. "You're dismissed."  
Rhodey gave him a half-hearted salute and went back to his room.

In a hanger, Tony was sitting inside the War Machine armour, fixing some broken wires in the joints over the stomach, where some bullets had punctured between them and ripped the wires.  
"Stark." Fury's voice came from the doorway.  
Tony looked up, but then straight back down and carried on with his work. "What, General?"  
"I'm just wondering when you're going to supply us with those _much-needed_ upgrades that the War Machine project needs."  
Without looking up Tony replied, "I'm just a civilian contractor for you Nick, I have a company to run."  
"I do believe that the US Army is Stark Global's highest source of income." Fury replied, "And it's General Fury, to you."  
Tony gave Fury an empathetic look, "I'm busy fixing the suit, I need to be fixed before I can upgrade it…" he trailed off.  
"But?"  
"I left the upgrades at home." Tony said, flicking down a lens on his headgear and zooming in to look at the frayed wires.  
Fury's lip curled but he simply chewed it, then turned around and left. Tony stopped working and looked up at the door. Something was up with Rhodey, he'd never seen his friend like that.

Tony initialised the start-up sequence on the War Machine armour again, with Rhodey inside it this time. He was feeling apprehensive towards Rhodey's continued use of the suit, but was under orders from S.H.I.E.L.D. to help with the suit, until he could train someone else.  
"Feeling hot?" Tony asked Rhodey as the suit locked into place, bolts tightening and panels sliding into place.  
"Like I could take on the world," Rhodey replied, before the helmet slid into place around his head and locked shut, but the faceplate remained open.  
"Locked and loaded," Tony said. He hated that saying. "Good luck, friend," he added.  
Rhodey saluted him and Tony turned back to the computer, typing quickly across 3 keyboards.

Fury stepped forward from behind Rhodey and cleared his throat.  
"From the intel we managed to get from the guys you tore in half," he began, "We found several sights in a disused industrial yard in downtown Basra. Most seem to be centred around an abandoned auto factory, which has started emitting polluted gases." Fury said, as Tony brought up a map onto the screen. "We believe that the terrorist cell the Ten Rings is operating out of the industrial estate and the locations we got from the half-a-terrorists are outposts."  
Fury didn't see it, but when he mentioned the Ten Rings, Tony flinched and his hand went to his chest, but as quick as a blink, he was back to typing.  
Rhodey nodded, "So I'm to go in and get the bad guy, right?" he asked.  
Now Fury nodded, "No funny business. I'll be watching you."

Once he was in the air, Rhodey opened a secure line to Tony.  
"_How you doing, Tony?_" he asked, he'd seen his friend flinch.  
"I'm fine, Rhodey, just…"  
"_Just what?_" Rhodey prompted.  
"I wish it was me, going up against the Ten Rings," Tony said, glancing down at the glowing chest plate under his shirt.  
Tony sat back, watching the screens for Rhodey's reaction.  
"_You know it's really weird when you do that._" Rhodey said, changing the subject.  
Tony smirked, "You're coming up on them already, take it lower. We'll have to keep quiet if you don't wanna get caught," he said. "Good luck."

Rhodey nodded a little, to be honest, he preferred silence. He piloted the armour down and under the radar, picking up speed as he came down, so a trail of dirt flew along behind him.  
"_Target lock_." J.A.R.V.I.S.' voice said.  
"What! How!" Rhodey said before the missile impacted, launching Rhodey off of his path and into the side of a soda factory, bouncing off the ground repeatedly before puncturing the side of a rusting soda chamber, still full of soda, which had long since gone off and stank to high-heaven.  
Rhodey activated thermal vision, and through the luke-warm soda he was now surrounded in, could faintly make our bright red blobs coming towards him.  
"_Total systems failure in T-minus 20 seconds_." J.A.R.V.I.S. said.

Rhodey brought up his hands and fired at the wall in front of him, a few hundred gallons of decade old soda and a 195 pound guy in a 2 tonne suit of armour came crashing out of the soda.  
"Drain the suit of all unneeded liquids," Rhodey said as he blasted into the air and readied his repulsors, "Activate external speakers."  
There was a buzzing and the suit began to leak as it pushed out the soda.  
"_Stand down!_" Rhodey's voice was amplified by the suit, and translated into Iraqi.  
All of the Iraqi's yelled in their native language and Rhodey rolled his eyes, fired a shot at each of them, which Tony had pre-set to stun.  
Rhodey broke through the roof and looked around.  
"_15 target's picked up. 8 anti-air launcher signatures picked up and several vehicle traces._ J.A.R.V.I.S. informed him.  
"Great, where should we start?" Rhodey asked, but their targets had already been locked on him. "Time to go." He said and took off high into the sky to evade the missiles.  
"_5 targeting missiles locked onto the War Machine armour. Suggest activating flares and taking out anti-air turrets._"  
"I'll get right on that J.A.R.V.I.S." Rhodey snapped and followed J.A.R.V.I.S.' orders, and dropped back past the missiles, which all exploded in the air.  
Rhodey guided himself down, lazily, as if he'd been hit by the missiles. It seemed to fool the Ten Rings, and he managed to land on a tank, destroying it.

"That hurt," he grunted.

Back on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Hellicarier, Tony frowned as the damage readings for War Machine updated.  
"Hey, take it easy," he told Rhodey, sounding rather agitated.  
"_Listen Tony, when you're staring down the barrel of several anti-aircraft turrets,_then_you can tell me what to do!_" Rhodey snapped angrily.  
Tony frowned and started to run the remote-repair program and parts of the armour which can be damaged started to click back into place.

Rhodey lifted the tank and hurled it at the anti-air turret near to him, causing that to roll and hit the other.  
"3 down." Rhodey checked them off and turned to the others. He launched some flares and dove out of the way of two more missles. "Missiles!" he yelled and launced two tiny ones at the next two launchers. "Tony, I need a clear path to the factory!" he said.

He could hear Tony clicking some keys and suddenly a map appeared on his HUD, with a throbbing red line to the factory. "I love you, man."

"_Keep it clean,_" Fury's voice snapped.  
Rhodey took off, rolling through the air and towards the factory.

Inside the factory, it was empty. There were traces of vehicle fumes left in the air, but anything Rhodey was sent for, was long gone.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – Stark Global, 2003

"Once upon a time my dad told me that "One say son you shall provide the world with products to end wars forever." Little did I know just _how_ literal that statement was." Tony said, facing out over the crowd at the Stark Expo, "Over the last year we've seen a lot of new and interesting things here, from Doctor Curt Conners work in limb regrowth, to Samsung's 'phone of tomorrow', but I know that what you're all here to see is something from us, right?"  
There was a raucous cheering from the massive audience and Tony smiled.  
"That's what you came to see! Something from Stark Global at the Stark Expo?" Tony said loudly, trying to get the crowd going, and sure enough, several chants started up.  
Tony waved his hands.  
"Please. My father once told me I'd hold the power to stop wars, now the _United States of America_ has that power too, therefore…I very excitedly introduce, and to start the New Year off with a bang into 2004…." He paused and glanced around.  
"COME ON TONY!" yelled a voice from the crowd, and Tony chuckled.  
"Ladies and gentlemen, Stark Global is pleased to present, the War Machine!" Tony yelled and the lights went out.

Silence fell, and there were some whirrs, then some lights appeared out of the floor, two for eyes, and one in the middle of a chest plate. The lights came back on and War Machine was shown to the world for the first time.  
The metal looked dirty, but fitted together very well, and looked slightly bulky, but its pilot moved fairly well underneath as he looked around and waved.  
"Piloted by Lieutenant James Rhodes, the War Machine Stark Armor is my gift to the US Army. Made form a mix of two rare metals, vibranium and adamantium, complete with an operating system that would put Steve Jobs to shame." Tony explained, "Lieutenant Rhodes?" Tony asked and there was a pause.  
"Hello Tony," Rhodey's voice said.  
"How's the suit?"  
"A little stuffy," Rhodey replied, glancing at Tony before moving across the stage.  
The crowd visibly moved back and Tony smirked a little.

After the show, Tony walked off the stage and unbuttoned the cuffs on his shirt. He sighed deeply and rubbed the plate on his chest as he picked up the bottle of scotch and walked into his 'dressing room', which was basically a huge apartment in the Expo grounds. He closed the door and leant against it as he listened to the silence crowding around him. He closed his eyes for a few moments, and didn't hear the voice coming to him; his wife, Virginia "Pepper" Stark.  
"How was it, Tony," she asked him.  
Tony opened his eyes and smiled, "Tiring," he said and slid his arm around her waist, kissing her.  
"I wish you'd get rid of that beard," Pepper said with a smile.  
Tony rolled his eyes, "You've been saying that for years," he pointed out and walked into the kitchen, to be met with the smell of slightly over-cooked pasta and something vaguely Italian and meaty. He grimaced slightly; Pepper's world-famous bad cooking. She always tried for a family meal, but never could work the timer on the stove.  
"I'll call Maria down," Pepper said.  
"I'll call Pizza Hut." Tony replied with a smirk. Pepper gave him a dirty look.

In her room, 13 year old Maria Stark was dancing around her bedroom to Dream Theater's _Train of Thought_. She couldn't hear her mother calling her for dinner, even though she could smell it and knew it was ready 10 minutes ago. She sighed as the song finished and looked up at the door when it opened. "Dad!" she said with a big smile and launched herself at Tony, who caught her and laughed.  
"Hey, kid," Tony said, and hugged his daughter close. "Your mother's 'cooked' dinner," he said with a knowing smirk  
"Did you ring Pizza Hut?" she asked as he released her from the hug.  
"She wouldn't let me," Tony pouted.  
Maria laughed, and walked towards the stairs. "How was the closing ceremon…cerey…"  
"Ceremony?"  
"Yeah," Maria blushed.

"It was good, I think some people are scared of the War Machine though…given a chance I think people will learn to trust it. Uncle Rhodey is a good man, he won't go wrong."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – O Ye of Little Faith, 2005

Tony sat back in his seat on his private jet with a glass of scotch, on ice, in his hand. He was listening, vaguely, to a news report on the television, all he knew was some hot blonde chick was giving a report on a sighting for some 'Big Foot' creature.  
"Sir?" said a voice, high and angelic, Sophia, his personal assistant, now Pepper was 'retired'.  
"I'm fine, Sophia," Tony said, "Just…thinking."  
Sophia smirked and sat down opposite him, "That's dangerous, Tony," she said with a knowing tone.

Tony gave her a dry smirk, "Very funny, Miss Reynolds." He said and drained his scotch. "What does my schedule look like for today?" he asked.  
Sophia took a deep breath, and opened her portfolio, which Tony often joked she should have grafted into her hand since she never put it down.  
"At 1300 hours you have an appointment to oversee the design plans for the S.H.I.E.L.D Triskelion, then you will have a half an hour window in which to, well, do whatever it is Tony Stark does in his spare time," she glanced at him, "Then at 1515 hours you have to accompany your wife to Maria's parents evening at school, God help them with that. But first you have to meet with Nick Fury aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. Hellicarrier, which is why your ass had to be dragged out of bed at half past 7 this morning, and, I'm assuming, the reason you've already finished that bottle of whiskey." She pointed out.

"It's scotch," Tony corrected her as he poured the last of the bottle into the glass.  
"You have a problem, Tony," Sophia said softly.  
"I have a problem, yes, but not with alcohol. Half past 7 shouldn't exist." Tony retorted, which made Sophia sigh and look at her watch.  
"You should at least go and freshen up, we'll be arriving shortly."  
Tony gave her a mock salute and stood up, glass in hand, and walked away towards his private bedroom.

On the landing deck of the Hellicarrier, Nick Fury was awaiting the arrival of Tony Stark's personal jet. He stood in his uniform; black, with his hands held behind his back, his black trench coat acting like a cape and making him appear easily ten times more ominous.  
Fury watched the huge white jet appear out of the clouds and touch down a few inches from crashing into the side of the carrier, and pulled to a stop half way along the length of the impressive ship.

Tony straightened his tie, and looked at Sophia, "How's your mother?" he asked.  
Sophia looked up in surprise. Tony had met her mother when his father was still alive, she had been working for Howard Stark before he died. Vanessa Reynolds***** had been born with a rare heart condition, but by the time a potential cure had been created, by none other than Tony himself, it was too late. Tony felt bad about not being able to help Vanessa after she had been so close and kind to himself and his father, he offered an unlimited supply of money, to make sure she was comfortable in her final years. Tony felt bad, the technology that he created, that kept _him_ alive and pushing on in life, was the only thing that could have saved Vanessa.

"She's uh…she's surviving." Sophia said with a slight crack to her voice.  
"I am sorry," Tony said quietly, "I wish I could do more."  
"I know, Mister Stark." Sophia said, and then cleared her throat.  
Tony nodded, "Ladies first, Miss Reynolds." He said softly and let her lead.  
Sophia smiled and walked ahead, clutching the portfolio to her chest. She knew Tony could be a jerk, but when it really mattered, he had a heart; his wife knew that, and she had the first model of his chest reactor on display in their home.

"Stark." Fury barked as soon as Tony appeared at the top of the stairs.  
Tony sighed, and was already unfastening his shirt cuffs, "Good morning, General." Tony said with a false smile.  
Fury rolled his eyes, "Let's go," he said and walked over to a large metal door, Tony and Sophia in tow.  
"How long are we going to be, General? I have an urgent appointment to attend to," Tony half lied, he'd not had breakfast that morning…

Once they were in a large meeting room, with a long table, with large black leather swivel chairs, and a projector showing the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo against a screen, Nick took on a much more official stance.  
"I just want to know where my upgrades are." Nick started, "I've been waiting for months, I need the War Machine weapons, the new guns you promised us _three_ weeks ago," he said, "I'm trying to win a war here, Tony," he said.

Tony glanced at Sophia, who was sitting in the seat behind him, and looked at Fury.

"General Fury, the weapons are all ready to be picked up, I've been waiting for _someone_ to sign the release forms, the upgrades for Rhodey's armour have taken a little more time than I would like," he added, "I've been working on some new bits and pieces, upgrading the ARC reactor that runs my goddamn heart is pretty high on my list,"  
Nick grimaced.  
"Hey, _Nicholas_, if I wasn't here, where would you get your weapons from?"  
Fury had to admit he had a point.

"Fine, Tony," Fury replied. "Just get them done," he said, "Where do you want me to sign?"  
With this Sophia stood up and pulled some papers from her portfolio, and handed them, along with a pen, to Fury, who put them on the table and signed them in all the right places.  
As he watched, Tony steepled his fingers and rested his chin on his thumbs.  
"Pleasure doing business with you, General," Tony said and stood up, "Forgive me if I don't shake your hand, I believe that after signing that you feel you have to wash your hands now," he said. "Sophia." He added and left the room.

Tony sighed quietly and sat back on the plane; after the surprisingly short meeting with Nick Fury, Tony had been given about 3 hours in which he could do…anything he wanted. He lifted his glass of Scotch and looked at Sophia, "Think we can stop by Burger King on the way home?"  
Sophia gave him a disapproving look, "Tony…"  
Tony rolled his eyes, "I know, I know, Pepper's stuck me on this diet," he said, "Let's go home."  
"You should go to the office, there is some paperwork that I need you to look at before we meet for the Triskelion," Sophie started but Tony interrupted her.  
"You said I had a meeting about that anyway,"  
"You do, sir, but,"  
"Well I can do the papers then, right?"

Sophia sighed, "Yes, Mister Stark." She stood up and left the room, her portfolio still in hand, to go and talk to the pilot.  
Tony sat back and sighed quietly, staring into his glass for a few seconds before looking out of the window at the tops of the clouds.

****DISCLAIMER #2****

Vanessa Reynolds is a character not of my own creation (however her daughter is.) Vanessa Reynolds was created by FF member Angelus The Scourge of Europe and used on an Iron Man RP, in which I briefly played my own character before taking over the role of Mr. Stark, sadly the roleplay is now dead

I contacted Angelus asking permission to use the character, and haven't received a reply as of yet, but I hope that Angelus will take my apology in this disclaimer nicely. I am very sorry for not waiting, but I always liked the Vanessa character and her back story.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 –Test Drive, March 2009**

"Pardon me?" Pepper asked Tony, shocked.

Tony nodded, and looked at Pepper, he had no hint of a smirk on his lips and the usually playful spark in his eye was gone too. He meant business.

"Stark Industries will no longer make weapons." Tony repeated. "Do you have any idea what happened to me out there Pep?" Tony asked, pointing towards the wall. "I was captured, tortured and held to ransom with my own goddamn weapons," Tony said defensively.

"I know…" Pepper whispered.

With these words Tony's expression softened and he pulled her into a tight hug, and then smiled when she buried her face into his chest, carefully avoiding his miniature ARC Reactor.

Eventually they broke apart, and Tony sat in the chair by the desk.

"I want something _better_ for this company. I don't want the Stark Legacy to be a death count." He paused, "I just think it might be too late."

Pepper came over and knelt in front of him with a soft sigh, taking his hands with hers.

"It's never too late to change. You can be whatever you want to be, and you can make this company into whatever you want it to be." She said softly.

"Thanks Pep," Tony said, he smiled.

"What did you have in mind for the company, anyway?" she asked, "Baby bottles?"

"Y'know…that's not half bad," Tony joked and Pepper slapped his arm and stood back up while Tony chuckled. "I'm not sure…Communications? Computing? Software?"

"For the military?" came Fury's voice from across the room.

Tony looked over and scowled, "For the public." He said.

"In case you'd forgotten, Stark, we're your _employers_, you have a contract to fulfil."

"Yes, until I decide that your money isn't worth my services," Tony said.

Fury was about to retort when Pepper cleared her throat. Instead Fury gave a dry chuckle and leant on the table.

"Let's get on with this?" he asked.

Tony bowed his head and looked past Fury, "Ready Rhodey?" he called, his voice echoing slightly down the huge room.

"Ready." Rhodey replied as he stepped onto a large podium.

Tony turned to the computer bank, several screens built up to one large CPU, and activated the construction sequence.

Plates in the floor of the podium opened outwards and slid up, and Rhodey slid his feet into the large feet which came up through the podium, and metallic arms came up slowly with the shin and calf armour for his legs, followed by the knees, thighs, crotch plates and belt. Rhodey had likened this to be swallowed by metal from the ground up. He took a deep breath as two arms came down from above, one in front and one behind, to secure the torso and back harnesses, and a small arm popped out of the arm in front of him to secure the ARC Reactor to the power plate. He felt the suit almost jump to attention, and looked to either side as more arms came down, this time with the gloves. He slid his hands into them and shuddered with partial fear as tubular objects extended down his arms, fitting various other pieces of the armour to his arms. The two arms came down in front and behind him again and fitted the armour plates to the harnesses and the ARC reactor sped up its cycles and began to glow an ominous red.

The last pieces came down around his head and his eyes closed as the face plate was secured, and slid down with a loud metallic thud.

On the computer screens, Rhodey's vital signs appeared, bleeping regularly. On another, the suit appeared, listing various read-outs which would highlight parts of the suit that became faulty or damaged.

Pepper came up beside Tony and leant on the desk as Tony's hands flew across various keyboards and touch-screens, "How many times have you tested the suit?"

"A few…" Tony mumbled back quietly.

Rhodey took a few deep breaths as he got used to the feeling of the suit around him, and then heard Tony's voice.

"_On your word, Colonel,_"

"Right…start the virtual walk-around," Rhodey said, and watched the world in front of his eyes take on a hollow-grid-like view, red in colour. "Okay, take me up and out." he ordered and the platform he was on began to rise steadily, and the roof opened. Rhodey blinked slightly against the glare, and the brightness went down on his screen to compensate, slowly bringing itself up to a more natural brightness setting.

"_I'm installing Y.A.R.V.I.S. Now_," Tony's voice said in his ears.

"Y.A.R.V.I.S?" Rhodey asked.

"_Yet Another Rather Very Intelligent System._" Tony said, and Rhodey could almost hear his smirk.

There was a notification beep and an exclamation point appeared, flashing briefly.

"_Greetings, Master Rhodes_," said a female voice.

"Very nice, Tony," Rhodey praised, "I'm surprised you haven't used this yet," he added, while Tony just shook his head.

On the main deck of the Hellicarrier Rhodey looked around, the scanners studying pieces of the fighter jets parked around him, as well as communications masts on the main towers, and zoomed in on a group of people gather on an observation deck.

"_Quite a crowd you've gathered,_" Tony said, and Rhodey wasn't sure if his friend was addressing him, or Fury, "_Hey! Is that Doctor Banner? I owe that guy a drink..._"

"Shut up, Tony," Rhodey said, and back in the control room, Tony frowned indignantly, but Fury laughed.

Rhodey looked up and around again, "Y.A.R.V.I.S.? Test control surfaces." he ordered and plates of armour moved, clicked into a fully open position, hissed, and moved back. The minigun on his shoulder whirred, moved up from its standby position, as did the missile launcher on his left shoulder. On his wrists, twin rapid-reload shotgun gauntlets cocked and uncocked. He twisted his neck and smirked slightly.

"_What d'ya say, Colonel?_" Tony's voice said.

"Okay...let's take a walk," Rhodey replied and started to move around freely. He felt kind of wobbly in the suit, but after a few minutes, he was used to the movement, and was even jogging, which was as fast as the suit would allow him to move. "Tony? Can you engage thrusters?" he asked.

"_Engaging thrusters_," Y.A.R.V.I.S' voice said.

"Alright," Rhodey muttered, and took off, hovering a few feet above the deck.

There was a spatter of applause from the gathered crowd on the observation deck, and down in the chamber with Tony and Pepper, Fury grabbed a microphone.

"_You lot better get back to work in the next 10 seconds, or you'll be taking a long walk off the end of the Hellicarrier!"_ he yelled, and the scientists and S.H.I.E.L.D. officers gathered on the deck quickly dispersed back to their stations.

In the communications tower a radar started bleeping,

"Uh...sir?" Agent Ramsey, sat at the communications desk said into the ear piece hooked around his ear, "General Fury?" he asked again, more urgently as more blips appeared on the radar.

"_What is it?_" Fury's voice said.

"There are several unidentified objects on the radar, closing fast from the east," Ramsey said, "I count...eight, nine...ten, more," he said in disbelief.

In the chamber below decks, Tony and Fury shared a look.

"_What's going on, guys?_" Rhodey asked as he dropped back down onto the deck, stumbling slightly under the forgotten weight of the armour.

"We have over 10 incoming projectiles; one of them is huge..." Fury said as he looked at the radar screen Tony had brought up onto one of the unused screens.

"_Should I engage?_" Rhodey asked and Fury looked at Tony.

"The weapons are good to go, but I haven't given them a proper field-test yet," he started.

"Engage them, Rhodes," Fury said, using Tony's interrupted speech as an affirmative.

Rhodey nodded, "Yes sir," he said.

Tony frowned and was about to object when he felt Pepper's hand on his shoulder, "Initialising weapons systems, General," he said flatly and keyed in the commands.

Rhodey looked around, "I don't see them!" he said, "Are you sure there's anything incoming?" he asked, when suddenly there was a buzzing hum from the far side of the deck.

"_Sir! We have a visual, four…I don't know what they are, robots…are carrying a metal cube…I can't see any clear markings…_" Agent Ramsey's voice said hurriedly.

"Oh my god…" Rhodey said.

The robots came into view, being powered by similar technology that went into the War Machine armour on Rhodey's own back. Downstairs, Tony was already tapping away at the keyboards, executing commands before Fury said them.

"The only visible markings I can see is an 'T' logo…it could be an 'H', there's too much dirt on them to be sure." He said clearly, "The thrusters are _very_ similar to mine, maybe two or three generations behind…" he added under his breath. "I don't know Nick," he said, "Whoever made these things, he knows what he's doing."

Fury gritted his teeth, "_General_." He muttered.

"_Rhodes if you don't engage them in the next five seconds I'll have you dishonourably discharged!_" Fury yelled.

"We don't know if they're hostile." Rhodey replied.

"_I think it's safe to say that these are unidentified, Rhodey,_" Tony said, "_Definitely not friendlies._"

"Fine, Y.A.R.V.I.S, engage weapons system," Rhodey ordered.

"_Weapons system engaged._" Y.A.R.V.I.S. said after a few moments.

Rhodey lifted his arms, twin blasters on the end, and the minigun took aim. He was now aiming at three of the four robots, waiting to see if they would make a move.

"_What are you waiting for, Rhodes, fire!_"

"Not yet! I'm waiting for them to make the first move." Rhodey replied, "Y.A.R.V.I.S., activate external speakers."

Again, there was a notification sound.

"Unidentified flying objects, unless you can clarify your intentions, maker and location of origin, you will be deemed as hostiles. Identify." Rhodey commanded, but the flying robots took no notice of him, and flew over his head.

Suddenly they stopped, and dropped the box with a loud crash onto the deck, crushing the front half of an F-22 fighter jet, the rear dropped off the side of the Hellicarrier and crashed into the icy waters below.

"Ah hell." Rhodey muttered and opened fire, the blasters on his wrists aimed at two of the robots, the minigun on his shoulder aimed at the third. They didn't react for a few seconds, then burst open with machine gun fire at Rhodey. Bullets bounced off him and the armour vibrated.

"_What is that thing?_" Fury's voice came into his ears.

"Y.A.R.V.I.S..." Rhodey grunted, "Activate auto-aim missile," he ordered and felt the click of the miniature missile launcher rising from his shoulder. On the HUD he saw the four targets line up and suddenly they stopped firing.

There was a mechanical whirring and the metal box hissed as air-tight seals were broken, and four legs unfolded from the huge body of the box, lifting it slowly. The robots stopped hovering in one place and clicked into the body, and suddenly it seemed like everything was aimed on Rhodey.

"Fire!" Rhodey said and the rockets dispersed to their targets. The huge robot walker took a step forward and fired a cannon at Rhodey, knocking him backwards into another F-22. "Ow."

"_Armour strength at 86%_." Y.A.R.V.I.S. informed him.

"What is that thing, Tony?" Rhodey asked as he climbed out from the wreckage and looked at the walker as it made its way towards him slowly, making the Hellicarrier shake with each footstep.

"_It's an Armiger,_" Tony said, "_Heavy weaponry, tough,_" he said, "_R&D had the designs in a few years ago...but we never finalised anything,_"

"Well somebody beat you to it," Rhodey said. "Y.A.R.V.I.S. activate thrusters," he ordered quickly and took off as the cannon fired again, blowing up two fighter jets.

Rhodey looked down at the carnage and looked over at the Armiger as it aimed at him.

"Any idea where it's from, Tony?"

"_Honestly?...Not a clue_." Tony said.

"Helpful," Rhodey muttered and zoomed down under the Armiger, and tried to lift it. He groaned, even under the added strength of the suit, this was a struggle. He heard Tony tapping away at the keyboards in his ears.

"_Thrusters increased to 15% thrust capacity._" Y.A.R.V.I.S. sounded off.

"M...more..." Rhodey grunted, but had to admit it was getting slowly easier to lift the Armiger.

"_No more, any more and the thrusters would simply explode...no one wants that._" Tony said.

Rhodey grunted again and pushed the Armiger towards the edge.

"_Rhodes! Stop what you're doing, I want that walker subdued and dismantled!_" Fury barked.

"Sorry, general," Rhodey grunted, "I'm not risking any more lives than I have to..."

Suddenly one of the legs moved under its body and swiped Rhodey away, leaving him bouncing across the deck. The Armiger got back onto its feet and slowly began to turn towards him.

Rhodey quickly stood and looked over, using the thrusters to make his way back over, the minigun firing once more, ripping chunks of the metal from the body of the Armiger.

The robots attached to the tops of each leg were firing at him, but four swiftly fired missiles which luckily hit hard enough to deactivate them took care of that, and with one final push, War Machine became triumphant as he pushed the Armiger off the deck and down through the clouds, still firing its cannon wildly.

Downstairs, Fury sighed deeply.

"Well that went well," Pepper said.

On the main deck, Rhodey was standing in the armour, helmet under his arm as he helped Tony look through what was left of the wreckage on the Hellicarrier, "Nothing good to look into, nothing with any logo's, names...not even a serial number."

Tony sighed, "Whatever's there...is at the bottom of the North Atlantic." He said.

Fury walked over to them, "I want you both downstairs for a debriefing, _now_," he snapped angrily.

****DISCLAIMER #3****

This chapter…may or may not have direct lifts from both Iron Man video games, and the Iron Man film itself, of the Mark 2 flight test/Mark 3 fight tests and when Tony returns home from Afghanistan, and tells Obie about stopping the weapons thing…


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5, Just another Day, 2011**

**A/N: So Far this story has focused on Stark, I was trying to have it somewhat balanced between Rhodey and Stark, so for the next few chapters, I'll do just the opposite, and focus on Rhodey...**

The alarm blared Muse's _Knights of Cydonia_ at near-full volume into Rhodey's ear. Groaning, he reached over and turned the alarm off, with one eye buried into the pillow he watched the time pass as it flickered minute after minute into the rest of the day. The alarm went off again and finished the song, the DJ began talking about Tony and Pepper Stark's anniversary plans with Maria.

Rhodey grimaced at the words and threw the covers off him and stood up, he glanced at the naked girl beside him and groaned. _What's her name...? Krista? Kristen? Kirsten? Kirstey?...Emma?_

He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck as he walked into the en-suite bathroom and kicked the door shut.

As pilot of the War Machine armour, Rhodey was constantly on-call. But it meant he was working twenty-four/seven, and that wasn't a bad pay check; shame about the taxes; not even S.H.I.E.L.D. could get rid of those. However, as pilot of the War Machine, Rhodey was under a lot of stress, which meant a lot of the time, he was much like what Tony used to be like.

In his teens, when they were at college; Tony studying mechanics, computing and engineering, Rhodey studying piloting, aviation and geography, Tony was very..._active_ in his free time, with booze and broads. Rhodey had often been jealous when Tony brought girls back to their room for a 'night-cap'. He was especially jealous when Tony brought back two sets of twins for New Years Eve, while Rhodey was away at a government meeting.

When Tony had been kidnapped, he blamed himself. If had hadn't allowed Tony to go to Afghanistan, or allowed Tony to go in the second Humvee...But then again...maybe it was a good thing. Tony had created a good weapon in the US' arsenal. War Machine had revolutionised the war industry. The suit that Tony had created in that cave was crude, but effective, he'd blasted his way out, but lost a friend, a man named Yinsen, that guy had saved Tony's life, implanted that godforsaken plate in his chest, but saved his life. The only downside was that Tony now wanted to change Stark Global from a weapon's contractor, to a simple technology manufacturer no greater than Dell or Microsoft.

Rhodey scoffed, and turned on the waterproof shower-radio.

"_So folks, let's hear some of your thoughts on Tony Stark's latest radical move; we have one here from Janet Van Dyne "Tony Stark's no longer making weapons? The business his father, and his father's father worked so hard to create, and Tony's about to throw it all away? This guy doesn't know what he's doing! Plus he's got a life-long contract with the government to supply them with weapons. If Stark Global backs down from this, who is going to take their place? Hammer Industries?" Well Janet, your email seems to be the only one we can read out_," the announcer laughed, "_Such colourful language.._" Rhodey turned it off and turned the water on.

He liked being in control of the armour, he wanted to feel that control all the time. It was an addiction, and it only grew stronger. The minuscule upgrades Tony gave the armour were noticeable to him, added strength since the encounter with the Armiger, armour density upgrades, introducing and strengthening the shielding systems as well as multiple upgrades to optional weapons packages.

Tony was going to throw it all away in favour of helping people in _other_ ways. _Stupid bastard_. Rhodey thought bitterly as he rinsed himself off and got out, towelling himself dry. He grumbled incoherently as he woke the girl, "Time to go," he said.

"Good morning to you too," the girl grumbled back as she stood up against him, pressing her naked body against his, "No more fun?" she asked, teasing his ear with her tongue.

"No, time to go," Rhodey repeated, "I have a busy day." He added and handed her her clothes, "I'll call you."

"No you wont," the girl muttered, and Rhodey had to agree with her. He wouldn't call.

A few hours later, Rhodey was down at the gym at the Triskelion, lifting weights and listening to his iPod. He hated this place, but it was the only place in the world where he could be left to himself., for a short while, at least. He felt his phone buzzing in his pocket and sat up, removing his headphones.

"Hello?" he asked when he picked it up. There was silence on the other end, "Hello?" he asked again.

"James Rhodes," said a voice in a thick European accent, "Your skills are noted. Watch out for us." The line went dead.

Rhodey frowned and stared at the phone. He blinked, he didn't recognise the number; it wasn't a number, more like an endless string of random numbers and symbols.

He got up and grabbed a towel, and headed towards the locker room, thinking nothing off the call as he slipped his phone back into his pocket and slipped his headphones back in. He hummed along to the song and opened his locker.

In his underground lab, back at home in Malibu, Tony was sitting at the glass desk, tapping away at virtual keys as he ran checks, and double-checks on recent War Machine field-footage, both inside the helmet and outside, also running checks on Rhodey's vitals at the same time during the videos. He picked up his glass of Scotch and sipped it.

_Rhodey's becoming addicted to the power of the suit_, he thought. He hated people like that. He put the now-empty glass of Scotch down.

"J.A.R.V.I.S?"

"_Yes, sir?_"

"Run a check on Rhodey's data stream...and run it against both the data stream of an addicted smoker and an alcoholic during consumption." He said as he reached for the bottle of Scotch.

"_Accessing data stream records for General "Thunderbolt" Ross and Anthony Edward Stark._" J.A.R.V.I.S. stated.

"Hey!" Tony said indignantly, and pulled back, leaving the bottle.

The two data streams lined up with each other on the holo-screens in front of him, and Tony brought up Rhodey's beside them, though they were almost completely different, there were definitely consistencies.

"Shit." Tony cursed pushed back from the desk to stare dumbfounded at the screens. "What have I done..." he began, then sat with his arms folded in thought. "J.A.R.V.I.S?" he began.

At that moment, he heard the door open, "Minimise," he ordered and the screens went down, showing images of cars filling the screens. He turned and saw Maria.

"Hey," he said, sitting forward.

"Hey dad..." Maria said, noticing the flickering light in her dad's shirt. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Tony looked down, "I'm fine," he said, looking back up. "What can I do?" he asked, pretending to play a game they used to play when she was little.

"Mom says that dinner's almost ready."

"Eh..." Tony pulled a face, "Did you ring takeout yet?" he asked, smirking.

Maria smirked, "I thought I'd let you choose tonight," she said, pulling on his hand.

Tony laughed at his fifteen year old. "I'll be right up, we'll have to stick this one out and hope for the best." He said.

Maria laughed, "Okay, dad," she said and left him to it.

Tony watched her leave and his face went blank again. "J.A.R.V.I.S?" he asked again.

"_Yes, sir?_" J.A.R.V.I.S.' voice said.

"..." Tony opened his mouth to speak, but for the first time in his life, he had no idea what to say. He had no idea how to change his mistake, no idea how to fix his wrong...no idea how to help his friend. He felt completely at a loss, he couldn't conceive an explanation for how this had happened, how his friend had turned from one of the nicest and most respected officer in the U.S. army, to this...creation of Tony's own mind.

"_Sir,_" J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke up. Tony's eyebrows went up a little in surprise at being addressed by the A.I. "_Missus Stark is requesting your presence for dinner_."

Tony sighed, hoping the A.I. was about to offer an insight that would spark his mind into overdrive. "Very well," he said, "J.A.R.V.I.S., just so you know, I want gold roses at my funeral." He joked.

"_Of course, sir,_"

"Hold the American flags and twenty-one-gun salute." Tony added as he walked over to the door.

He left the computers running.

Rhodey was in the Armoury at the Triskelion, looking over the armour, still marvelling at how something so...dirty and un-readable could be so productive. Wearing this suit, Rhodey's enemies ran and hid from him. He felt powerful, he felt unstoppable, he felt...superior.

The radio was on in the background, a news show playing an interview with Pepper Stark, about how she thought Tony was coping with the lack in sales for Stark Global. Rhodey chuckled; no one wanted Tony's goodies now they didn't blow shit up.

He looked at the faceplate of the armour, level with his eyes from where it hung. He was the only person in the world with this power, but not the only one who knew that power. Tony was still around, Rhodey relied on him to keep the War Machine stocked with armour and regular maintenance to keep it running for him.

"You like being in that suit, don't you?" asked a thick European accent, and a woman with very red hair and very tight cat-suit stepped out from behind him.

"It's just a tool," Rhodey replied, straightening his tie, "It's not the machine, it's the man."

The woman laughed quietly, "You don't honestly believe that, do you Colonel?"

Rhodey didn't answer; he just stared into the faceplate's empty eyes. "Who are you?"

"My name is not important," She said, brushing the question off. "You wish to feel this power more? We can help you." She said, laying her hand on Rhodey's arm.

Rhodey fixed her with a sceptical look. "Who's we?" he asked, then his mind flickered back to the phone call, "Was it you who rang me this afternoon?"

The woman laughed again, "We'll see each other again," she said and moved towards the door, Rhodey's eyes couldn't help but linger on her backside as it moved under the leather.

Rhodey made his way down to the car park and found his Mercedes Benz, he preferred the make over Tony's preference to Audi's, the Mercedes had been around for a _long_ time, and was the pioneer car maker, all the things found as standard in a car now, were first in the Mercedes. He slid into the driver's seat and started the engine with a satisfying roar. He ran his hands over the leather steering wheel before pulling out of the car park.

Before setting off he tuned the radio onto a different station to try and avoid Stark-related news stories, and checked himself in the mirror. He then shifted into gear and pulled out of his allotted spot.

He sped up until he reached the guard gate, and slipped on his sunglasses as he passed the guard his I.D. He paused before carrying on, and looked at the guard, "Jimmy, right?" he asked, and the guard nodded, "Can you give me the name of the red-head who works here?"

"No red-head's work here, sir."

"Are you sure? Very athletic, nice...face," he said. And the guard shook his head.

"Occasionally Virginia Stark comes in, usually with Mister Stark, however." Jimmy said.

Rhodey frowned at the mention of the name. "Right, sorry to bother you." He said and continued driving. _What the hell's going on?_

Once he was out and away from the Triskelion, Rhodey began to wonder what was going on, whether he should get a CT scan, to find out whether he was suffering from something, he was imagining phone calls and red-headed foreigners... It was at this point that the radio once again interrupted his thoughts.

"_And more updates on the anniversary plans of Tony and Pepper Stark_," the announcer said cheerily.

Rhodey grimaced and punched the 'Off' button.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: This chapter will serve as a part of the explanation for Rhodey's mood in the previous chapter (5, Just Another Day) and some of his later actions...I hope.**

**Also, upon writing this and realising that in the actual story-text, I should be **_**spelling**_** numbers, instead of writing them, like...13 should be thirteen...I may have neglected this in the past, and there is probably a mix of the both in there, I will fix this asap.**

**Chapter 6, Shot Down, 1976  
**

A nineteen year old Rhodey walked into Tony's dorm room, leaping out of the way of Tony's third, and presumably not last, roommate, his things bundled into boxes which he carried, and almost spilled over Rhodey.

"Don't go in there, man," the guy warned, but Rhodey already knew that to expect. With a sigh, Rhodey walked into the room.

"Tony?" Rhodey called, looking around the room.

He got no answer, but heard muttering and crashing under the bed on the far side of the room, and with a deep sigh, Rhodey went over and saw Tony's legs poking out from under the bed, a dull glow from a torch-light and the distant drone of Black Sabbath as well. With a nudge of Tony's foot, Tony started under the bed, and yelled out as he whacked his head on the beds metal frame.

"Ow." He muttered and slid out on the wood floor. Upon seeing his friend, he beamed. "Hey." He said as he took off the cannibalised headphones.

"Likewise," Rhodey said, "I don't know if you know, but your _third_ roommate just left." He added, stepping back and helping Tony to his feet, placing the headphones and cassette player on the bed.

Rhodey gazed at the headphones for a long time. They were cannabalised from a pair of bulky headphones, made to fit _inside_ the ear, rather than over it, and the speaker-buds were attached by cables that had been coiled around each other to form just a single line.

"Ingenious idea, right?" Tony asked, "The new design offers less noise escaping than how they were before." He said.

Rhodey paused. "Is that what happened to my headphones?" he asked slowly, pointing.

Tony looked away indignantly, "You're welcome."

"They cost a lot of money, Tony..." Rhodey sighed.

"Relax! They're almost 4 years out-of-date, and the new design will catch on, I'm going to sell it to dad, you watch, it'll catch on."

Rhodey sighed and picked up what used to be his headphones and then sighed again. "What are you doing? Or, what did you do this time?" he asked, gesturing to the mess on the other bed; Tony's now-ex roommates final belongings.

Tony shrugged, "I was fitting a new Ethernet cable for the computer dad sent me," he said, "I guess he couldn't handle the noise. I'll keep doing this until the Dean agrees to have you move in here."

Rhodey sighed, and said, "Tony the Dean wont allow that, and you know it, _and_ you know why."

"_Complications._ Anyway, I must continue." Tony replied matter-of-factly, and got back down onto his back, reached up for the headphones and disappeared back under the bed.

Rhodey sighed, shaking his head, and moved towards the door. He stopped when he saw a girl standing there, she looked younger than most of the girls around here. He swallowed what he realised was a dry mouth, winced a little at the sensation, and cleared his throat, "Hi, can I help?"

The girl looked startled, "Hello," she said quickly to cover herself, dropping her book and several papers.

Rhodey crouched and helped pick her things up with her. He noticed her red hair, and freckles. She wore her hair up, but had bangs coming down that framed her face, it made her look mature, grown up, and slightly professional. The freckles and the brilliant green of her eyes only helped highlight her stunning beauty.

When she blushed, he realised he was staring, "Uh, are you lost?" he managed to ask.

"Yes, I'm thinking about coming here in a few years, my daddy told me it was better to get to know the place, but I can't make heads-or-tails of this map," she said, thrusting it out.

Rhodey took it, looked at it, and studied it. He withdrew a pen and marked an X on the map, "You're here, now," he said, "Does that help?"

The girl took back her map and smiled widely, "It does, thank you, very much. I'm Virginia, by the way, Virginia Potts, but my friends call me Pepper." She smiled brightly.

"I'm Rhodey, uh...James Rhodes, my friends call me Rhodey," he laughed nervously.

Pepper smiled and extended her hand.

"Oh, right," Rhodey said and shook her hand, then hesitated and quickly kissed her knuckle.

"It was nice to meet you, Rhodey," Pepper smiled shyly and looked down at her map, "Thank you," she said and moved off, glancing up and down from the map to her surroundings.

"Yeah..." Rhodey said, watching her leave, then shook himself, "Nice to meet you too, Pepper," he called after her.

"Did you say something, dear?" Tony's voice came from behind him, and Rhodey glanced over his shoulder.

"What? No." Rhodey said, "Um...just talking to...a friend," he said, looking back out of the door, but Pepper was already gone.

Rhodey spent the next week thinking back to Pepper, their brief conversation, and what an idiot he was for letting her get away without asking her if she wanted to do something, sometime. He sighed deeply and stared at the ceiling. He still had trouble processing the fact that the Dean had caved to Tony's demand that he and Rhodey share a dorm room.

Rhodey glanced over at the computer Tony was glued to; he'd tapped into his father's bank account and splashed out on an extra monitor, setting up a dual-screen system and was rambling on about increasing the processing power of the machine.

Rhodey sat up and looked over at Tony. "I'm going to go...find something to do, you wanna come?"

Tony looked at Rhodey as if he was mad, then disappeared into their bathroom.

Rhodey rolled his eyes, "Right," he said and left the room, slipping his thick leather coat on and wrapping the scarf around his neck.

Once he was outside, he glanced around at the snowy campus and began walking, straight into someone he hadn't seen there.

"Oh, shit...I'm so sorry," he said, helping the girl up. "Pepper?" he asked after a few seconds of hesitation.

Pepper smiled, "...Rhodey, right?" she asked, and Rhodey nodded, "It's really good to see you." She said, her voice was happy.

"Yeah, it's good to see you too," Rhodey said, smiling, "Uh...I was just going to find some food for the evening," he said, taking a chance, "Uh...would you like to join me?" he asked.

It had been a few weeks since they'd first met outside Tony's dorm room. No one had been on Rhodey's mind more, ever; not even Tony or his "antics."

"Actually I already have plans," she said, and Rhodey felt his heart sink, and saw her look past him.

Rhodey turned and felt himself turn cold as he looked into the eyes of his best friend, Anthony Stark.

Tony just smirked at Rhodey, "You two already know each other?" he asked, "Good, one less introduction to make," he grinned.

Rhodey swallowed, unsure how to react.

"Faux leather?" Tony asked, "I thought we discussed this." He added, smirking again as he took Pepper's hand. "Goodnight, Rhodey, if you come back and find a sock on the door knob, I'll put some cash in there for you," he joked, and Pepper, giggling, slapped his arm; and they left him standing there, speechless.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N! ****This chapter involves adult themes, specifically explicit sexual acts. You must be 18 or older before reading on. Otherwise please skip this chapter.**

**Chapter 7 – War Machine Part 1, 2011 (WARNING!)**

Rhodey sat in a bar, beer in hand, a few blocks down from his apartment in the Baxter Building. He was watching the baseball game on the TV hanging behind the bar. He sipped the beer idly as he watched.  
"Another?" he asked the barman, who nodded and moved away to collect another bottle.  
"Downing your sorrows, Colonel?" a European voice said from behind him.  
He turned and saw the same woman from inside the Armoury. He regarded her with obvious suspicion.  
"What's your name?"  
"You can call me Madame Masque."  
Rhodey nodded, "Right..._Madame Masque_, of course," he said. He turned back to the TV and continued to watch the game, while the blonde sat beside him, and picked up the new beer. "Excuse me?" Rhodey asked.

The blonde just smirked at him.  
Rhodey sighed and looked back to the game, "What do you want?" he asked, "Obviously you're interested in me, or the suit, so which is it?"  
"Can it not be both?" she asked, her hand going to his thigh, and brushing up the inside slowly.  
Rhodey shifted a little, his ears perked up and his eyes went a little wider. He found it odd that, under a brown leather jacket lined with wool, this woman was still dressed in the black – _skin tight_ – cat suit, which hugged her body nicely.  
Rhodey looked away from her again and finished his beer, ordering yet _another_.  
The platinum blonde watched him, her hand still on his thigh. "Come on, Mister Rhodes." She purred into his ear, "Do you not have anything better to do than sit here, and drink?"  
Rhodey tried to ignore her, but she was..._piquing his interest_ in the most aggravating way. He sighed, "Who do you work for?" he asked suddenly.

Masque was taken aback, she was sure he was about to fold. "I work for a _very_ secret organisation. You won't have heard of it."  
"I'll bet I've heard of it."  
Masque chuckled, "I doubt it. S.H.I.E.L.D. made it impossible to hear about us."  
Rhodey frowned, "So...what?" he asked, "Why are you hear? Why are you talking to me?"  
"We're just as interested in the War Machine armour as you are." Masque said, and it dawned on Rhodey.  
"You want the armour?" Rhodey asked, a smile pulling at his lips.  
"We do. Tony Stark has the most creative mind in the world. He, and the U.S. Government, have no right to keep this," she said, her hand roaming just slightly further up Rhodey's thigh, causing the solider and pilot to stiffen in his seat. "I know _you_ feel the same way," she continued, purring the words in Rhodey's ear.  
"It's my right. You..." Rhodey shivered suddenly, "You want the armour, and you get me too. Package deal."

Masque gave a breathy chuckle into his ear, causing Rhodey to shiver again. "_I_ want you more than the armour." She said seductively.  
That was enough for Rhodey, he stood, paid for the drinks (just left a wad of cash), and gripped Masque's wrist and dragged her from the bar.  
Masque laughed and let him pull her from the bar, and gasped when she was dragged into the alleyway beside it, and thrown against the wall.  
At first she thought that he was going to try and kill her, but instead he just kissed her; albeit forcefully. She found herself kissing him back, her arms going around his neck, pulling him tighter against her as her leg snaked up and around his as they kissed.  
Rhodey lost count of the seconds as the passed while her soft lips sucked his and her breasts pressed against her chest.  
"You want to have the power of the War Machine all the time?" the European beauty asked, kissing down Rhodey's neck as he nodded numbly. "Take my gun, and take the suit for yourself." She said.  
"I'll need something to sweeten the deal for me," Rhodey managed to utter.  
"Of course," Masque giggled seductively, and with that, she slowly sunk to her knees. Rhodey's eyes went wide as he was pushed around in a circle and up against the wall, as she wrenched his belt open.

"Holy shit..." Rhodey muttered.  
He was definitely getting into this. In the back of his mind, he likened this to Anakin's seduction to the Dark Side in _Revenge of the Sith_, although, this was more like the X-Rated version of it.  
Her hands were a little cold, probably a combination of the beer bottle she'd had and the crisp New York air. He groaned deeply when he felt her mouth around his member, enticing him up to his full size. He rubbed his hands together, then put them on her head and felt her bob her head along his length.  
Every time a car passed, her red hair was momentarily illuminated, her red lips wrapped tightly around his coloured flesh. The site excited him and he couldn't help but thrust a little, and grinned when he heard her gag.  
He laughed deeply, "Oh shit," he moaned. This was great, by far the best blow job he'd received in a long time, he closed his eyes as she hit the right spot, and grunted, "Oh yeah...That's so good." He moaned out.  
Masque rolled her eyes; of course it was good, she was _trying_ to give him the best head ever, to make sure she had his loyalty.  
Suddenly he reached his climax, no word of warning, and unloaded his seed into her mouth with so much force that it overflowed from her mouth onto the dirty pavement. Masque wiped her chin and grinned up at him, "Take this." She said, and as he zipped his pants up, she unclipped her gun from her shoulder holster and passed it to him.

Rhodey took the weapon – business once again – and looked it over, blowjob long forgotten already. Admittedly; he was impressed. The gun was light, he bounced it experimentally in his hand and looked down the sights, he noticed there was a small switch near his thumb, which he presumed was the safety. He flicked it, and a laser pointer was activated. He grinned like the Cheshire Cat, and when she saw it, Masque did too.  
Rhodey looked at her again, "How will I know where to go?" he asked, and Masque tapped her nose.  
"We'll be in touch," she said softly and stepped past him, disappearing into the night.

****DISCLAIMER 4****

So I figure maybe a lot of you will have mixed feelings about this chapter, but I felt it was essential to the storyline because Rhodey wouldn't just turn evil now, would he?


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 – War Machine Part 2, 2011**

Rhodey walked through the reception lobby of the Triskelion, smiling kindly at the freckle-y girl behind the desk and continuing down towards the lifts. He whistled a tune while the lift rose to the correct floor. He was resigned to his plan; steal the War Machine armour and kill Tony Stark so he couldn't shut down the system or build another.  
The doors slid open and a man Rhodey recognised vaguely stepped inside.  
"Colonel, isn't today your day off?" he asked, faking an interest.  
"I came in to see Bethany Cabe, Agent...Coulson," Rhodey replied.  
Coulson hesitated before nodding in understanding, either remembering who she was, or Rhodey's history with her, not that he could know that, it was pre-S.H.I.E.L.D. history. The doors slid open again on the next floor up, and Rhodey saluted Coulson before stepping out.  
Coulson just waved the salute off as the doors slid shut.

Rhodey stood there for a moment, unsure of what could have been on Coulson's mind, bit realised he didn't care, and turned to walk down the corridor, looking at the pictures on the wall as he walked, hands behind his back.  
He stopped when he saw his father's face smiling back at him and sighed, suddenly having doubts about his plan. But then he saw his own face, grinning from the helmet of the War Machine armour and he felt that same surge of want, the undeniable need for that power. He wanted it, and now it was well within his grasp.  
He turned and continued walking down the corridor until he reached a sealed door that required a key-code to enter.  
He knew what was on the other side well, for he'd spent a lot of his time in there. Just inside the door was another door, just to the left, where Rhodey would change from his uniform into the skin-tight, rather uncomfortable suit which helped relay his neural functions to the suit, to fire the guns at his own will rather than sending a command through Y.A.R.V.I.S., which infuriated him to the point where only frustrated cries could convey his emotions. In the centre of the large circular room was the podium where the armour assembly arms stood. Computers lined one quarter of the large circular wall, giving various readouts from the machinery, the armour, and Rhodey. There was a lift in the centre that, once Rhodey was suited up, would lift the armour, also turning it 180 degrees around, into the next floor, which would outfit the armour with whatever weapons had been deemed necessary for the mission.

Rhodey's favourite setup was the minigun on his shoulder and blasters on his gauntlets. He didn't mind what was on his other shoulder, either the missiles or another minigun.  
He typed in his personal code, and stepped into the room. "_Greetings, Colonel James Rhodes_." Said the robotic voice of Y.A.R.V.I.S., wired into the room. He stepped inside and waited for the door to close, and locked it from the inside, then disabled communication to the outside world while drawing the weapon Widow had given him. He stepped into the main chamber, and saw Cabe at the computers, of all things, checking her Facebook page.  
With a clear of his throat, she turned and smiled at him, "Hey Rhodey," she said and stood up. But she stopped when she saw the look on his face. The blank look. "Rhodey?" she asked.  
Almost in slow motion, Rhodey brought the weapon up and fired off two shots at Bethany. They hit her in the stomach and she went down instantly, her arms wrapped over her stomach as she bled out. Her colleague jumped up and leapt towards Rhodey, who brought the gun around and fired two more shots at him, catching him on the shoulder and in the chest, killing him instantly.

Rhodey laughed. He didn't say anything, he just laughed. "Y.A.R.V.I.S.?" he asked.  
"_Good evening, Colonel Rhodes._"  
"Activate."  
With that command the arms began to mobilise, and Rhodey disrobed, quickly putting on the skin-tight suit, and got onto the podium and stepped into the big metal boots. The arms lowered and built the legs up from his heels. While the suit was assembled around him, he just grinned wider and wider. He looked over and the computer readouts updated as the suit was enabled, his vital signs came up on the readers. Once the faceplate had dropped over his eyes, he lifted his left gauntlet and fired a charged repulsor ray at the computers, blowing them up.  
"Y.A.R.V.I.S? Enabled weapons layout E-1." He said, this was his favourite setup.  
The podium rose to the next floor, and a second set of arms came out of the walls to place the weapons on his shoulders and gauntlets.

The podium came back down and Rhodey stepped off it, turning to the wall, which was supposed to have slid open, and then the lights went out. He looked around in confusion. "Y.A.R.V.I.S. what happened?"  
"_The power has been cut._" Y.A.R.V.I.S. informed him.  
"Damnit," Rhodey muttered and turned back to the unopened door. He winked and a crosshair appeared on the HUD, he aimed at the door and activated the missiles, then promptly blew the door out of the wall and took off with a powerful kick of the thrusters, turning to head out over the North Atlantic Ocean.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9 – Iron Man, 2011**

Tony sat down in the underground garage, which backed onto his workshop, staring at more holographic screens, most of them showing the data streams, and various clips of Rhodey's field usage of the armour.

"J.A.R.V.I.S?" Tony voiced again, "You up?"

"_For you sir, always_," the British voice droned.

"I need help." Tony said, "And _don't_ make jokes, I...this...this really isn't the time for it," Tony said, studying the holo-screens.

"_Sorry, what can I do, Mister Stark?_" J.A.R.V.I.S. said.

Tony remained silent for a few seconds, leaning back in his chair, "Optimistically...what are the chances that Rhodey's mood swings and attitude in battle..._aren't_ my fault?"

"_Very low, sir_."

"Thank you," Tony said with a sigh, and wheeled the chair over to the broken hot-rod in the corner, and picked up a big-end. In the reflection of the black and red tinted paint he could see Rhodey's face as he shot down several anti-air missles and laughed as the fire rained down on his enemies, even some of his allies.

"J.A.R.V.I.S...bring up the schematics for the VTR Unit," Tony eventually said, wheeling himself back over, with one of the hot-rods windshield wipers in his hand. "Bring them up on the projectors, life-size." He ordered, and stood from the chair, walking around the War Machine armour.

He folded his arms and stared into the opaque faceplate in front of his eyes.

"I designed this suit...as just a simple...armour, to escape my captors, J.A.R.V.I.S..." Tony started, "The Variable Threat Response Unit wasn't supposed to be used like this...not as a tool, a killing machine...I wanted something better than this." He shook his head, "I guess they were right, once an iron monger, always an iron monger."

J.A.R.V.I.S. remained silent, even the A.I. could sense that Tony's mind was, slowly, working towards an answer.

Tony stared into the eyes of the faceplate, imagining Rhodey's own eyes on the other side. He opened his mouth to speak, when the phone rang.

"_General Nicholas Fury, for you sir,_" J.A.R.V.I.S. informed him.

Tony went and picked the phone up, looking back at the projection of his evil creation. "General?"

"_Stark, we need you at the Triskelion, _now_._" Fury's voice said, he sounded upset; never a good thing.

"Now isn't a good time, general,"

"_You don't understand, Stark, the War Machine armour has gone._" Stark blinked.

"Gone?"

The private Stark Global Boeing touched down at Newark Liberty airport in Jersey, and Tony stood, ignoring the calls of the stewardess to remain in his seat and fasten his seat belt until they came to a stop.

Happy Hogan, Tony's chauffeur and occasional bodyguard, stood and put a hand on the stewardess' shoulder. "You're new, don't try and stop him," he warned, before following his boss.

Tony was some way ahead, heading towards the rear of the plane, towards the cargo hold, where he'd had his Audi R8 Spyder put before they'd left.

"Boss, you want me to drive?" Happy asked as he caught up.

Tony turned and smiled at his friend and employee. "No, Hap, don't worry. I won't be gone long, I'll give you a call, make sure the plane is ready to leave." Tony said, patting the ex-boxer's shoulder, and Happy slouched a little. Tony patted his shoulder once more and gave a gentle squeeze. "If Pepper rings, you're with me, and I'm in a meeting." He said and turned before he could see Happy's un-easy expression, and continued down towards the car. He could feel the plane slowing as he looked over the car and got into it, and started it as the rear door of the plane started to drop open. He pressed a button and the roof of the car dropped open, while he slid Deep Purple's Greatest Hits into the CD player.

Tony grinned and rolled the car down, shooting up as quickly as possible as he hit the tarmac and drove across the runway and out. He couldn't help but smirk as he did this.

The gates were open when he got to them, and Tony flashed a smile at the guard, before joining the traffic heading into Jersey City. He looked over towards the impressive skyline of New York City in the distance and marvelled at the lights, both artificial – the lights in and on the skyscrapers – and the natural – the stars blinking high above the city. This city just _breathed_. If he could create a city, and – with his intensely creative mind, was highly possibly – he would want it to function just like this.

He noticed the blue and red flashing lights and looked over his shoulder, and saw two NYPD squad cars parting the traffic. One passed him and stopped just ahead, while the second stopped beside him and the window rolled down.

"Good evening," Tony said, with a curt nod and a polite smile, acting – for all the world- like this happened on a daily basis.

"Good evening, Mister Stark," said the officer, with a thick British accent and a mop of ginger hair, the handle bar moustache; Tony thought was a bit much. "We got a call through from S.H.I.E.L.D. to clear the streets for ya, they said it was an emergency. Anything to do with the Triskelion break-out?"

Tony just cleared his throat. "Thank you, Officer...?"

"Dugan, sir," Officer Dugan replied.

Tony smiled and drove forward into the space created by the police cars, and the squad cars moved him through the traffic. Tony glanced left and right at drivers, glaring angrily from behind their steering wheels to see who was getting this special treatment, only to shrink back into their seats when they saw both Tony Stark, and the licence plate "Stark-4" on the Audi.

Soon enough the Triskelion loomed up, ever imposing, sticking up out of the water like the ice berg that sunk the Titanic in 1912. It obscured the view of Jersey horribly; Tony conceded for the thousandth time that it was the worst thing he'd ever dreamt up. The whole place gave off a bad vibe, and he didn't think things were about to get better any time soon.

Fury was waiting for him, and he really didn't look cheerful...did he ever?

Tony pulled over and got out, tossing the keys to one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents flanking Fury. "Don't scratch the paint," he said, then put on the easily-faked smile he'd perfected since his father's funeral.

"You're late." Fury muttered.

"Uh...sir?" the Agent asked.

"Quatermain!" Fury snapped, and the Agent nodded and went to the car.

Tony looked at Fury expectantly. "Who and how?"

Fury turned and looked up at a smoking hole in the side of the Triskelion.

"Son of a bitch," Tony said, "Lead the way." He said, his mind already formulating several scenarios as to what could have happened, but he didn't want to think about the fact that Rhodey may have done this. But...Would he really be surprised if Rhodey had?

Tony was lead through the bowels of the Triskelion, towards the security centre and detention block built into the very centre of the structure, even stretching underground. Tony knew the layout, and knew where the hole in the wall came from.

Fury, however, wasn't giving anything away.

They all remained silent until they came to the security centre, and Tony was shown into the camera booth, and sat down in front of the controls, which he immediately took control off, finding the right camera data.

"Nobody saw him enter." Fury started, "And if they did, no one gave it a second thought."

Tony would have made a comment about the disappointment in Fury's voice, but Tony was suddenly filled with a sense of dread when he saw Rhodey's face on the screen. Rhodey was calmly strolling through the corridors towards the Armoury.

"He killed the operators." Fury went on.

At that moment, Rhodey entered the Armoury, pulled his gun and shot the two operators, one of which was Beth Cabe, Rhodey's ex-girlfriend. One of them, at least, Tony knew that much.

Tony sat back and closed his eyes, rubbing the bridge of his nose thoughtfully. He didn't need to watch the rest of the footage to know that Rhodey stole the armour.

"He's turned rogue, and we don't know where he's gone." Fury finished.

"On my way over, I tried to track the armour using a remote-access to J.A.R.V.I.S...but someone or something has tampered with the operating system in the armour...It's changed. The signal has completely disappeared." Tony said slowly.

Everyone remained silent for a few seconds, then Tony turned to Fury, still sitting in the seat.

"He's your friend, and it's your armour. Fix this." Fury said, and Tony snapped. He jumped out of the seat and his voice rose several decibels.

"You're saying this is _my_ fault?" Tony roared angrily, "How the fuck did I do this?"

"You were always angry that the military got ahold of your "Peace Project" and turned it into a weapon. I wouldn't be surprised if you paid Rhodes to do this." Fury replied, his voice rising, but not as high as Stark's.

Tony scoffed, "I don't believe this," he said, with a laugh. "I'm going home. Call me when you wanna talk, Fury." Tony said, and walked out of the door.

Tony knew what he had to do, he had to get back home, and find a way to track the War Machine armour. Maybe he could get something on one of the Stark Global satellites to track the signals to a point. His mind was working on overdrive, running and re-running over the schematics for the VTR Unit and the original suit he'd designed.

As soon as he'd returned home, Tony went down into the basement garage, "J.A.R.V.I.S?" he asked.

"_Yes, sir?_"

"Bring the schematics back up, right now," Tony ordered and the hologram of the War Machine armour shimmered back into life. Tony stared at it, "Right, remove all the weapons, strip it right down to just the armour, and bring up the original suit schematics."

J.A.R.V.I.S. did as instructed and Tony was looking at the two suits.

"Okay." Tony said, sitting in the chair. "What's the power output like for the current miniature ARC Reactor?"

"_I see where you are heading with this, sir, the current output does not match the needed output for prolonged use of the VTR Unit._"

Tony shook his head, "Forget the VTR, thats old tech." Tony said, "I'm thinking...newer, more streamlined, faster." Tony continued.

The A.I. remained silent.

"What would the chest piece need to give as an output?" Tony asked, more to himself as his mind raced to the answer, "At least...4 times as much?"

"_Would you like me to draw up some upgrades and improvements for the Mark II ARC Reactor, sir?_"

"Thrill me." Tony said, already getting to work on designing upgrades to the armour.

They worked long and hard into the next day, talking, discussing the necessary changes that needed to be made.

Tony had began work on building new boots, utilising the new Repulsor technology he'd been sitting on. It was present in the VTR Unit, but only in its early stages. While J.A.R.V.I.S. was still manufacturing the Mark III chest piece, Tony couldn't test the Repulsor's but he already knew the firing rate would be high and the damage could be set to a higher scale.

J.A.R.V.I.S. notified Tony when the chest piece was ready.

"Excellent, bring it up for me," Tony said and pushed himself away from the table, allowing Butterfingers to carry on with the work to the boots. Tony looked at the hologram of the miniature ARC Reactor and nodded, "Nice shape," he commented, looking at the triangular shell. "Get to it, J.A.R.V.I.S." he said, and went back to the boots.

The boots were a new design, too; using the Repulsor tech, they could siphon out a higher rate of acceleration in less time, and didn't damage the environment. He tested the boots, and after his original mistake during testing of the VTR Unit, crashing into the ceiling, took them up from 1% thrust capacity. "Next; flight stabilisers."

The flight stabilisers were easier to manufacture, and J.A.R.V.I.S. did a lot of the work, since Tony didn't see the point in changing them. He did change the Repulsors, giving them a narrower beam while the chest piece would make sure the firing rate with quicker.

The suit was slowly coming together. Tony couldn't stop grinning.

"_Sir, the Mark III chest piece is ready for application_." J.A.R.V.I.S. said, and Tony looked over picking out the Mark III chest piece from the machine.

"Excellent." Tony said, "Another masterpiece, J.A.R.V.I.S."

"_Of course, sir._"

Suddenly he looked over and saw Pepper staring at him, then looking at the half-built suit.

"Not again..." she said, "Please Tony, not again," she pleaded, tears in her eyes.

Tony put the chest piece down and went to his wife.

"Pepper...this isn't what you think. This isn't a weapon, this _is_ going to make the world a better place."

"That's what you said about the War Machine...Now Rhodey's..."

"The War Machine wasn't my intention." Tony cut in, cupping Pepper's face gently. "What happened to Rhodey...I couldn't foresee it, but maybe I can stop it." Tony said, kissing her gently. "I love you Pep, I'm always going to be here." He tapped his chest, "With this replaced, I'm going to be here for a _long_ time."

Pepper looked up at Tony and smiled, "I love you too, Tony," she said, and kissed him again.

Tony sighed softly and held her against him.

"_Sir_." J.A.R.V.I.S. said, "_Should I begin machining parts for the new armour?_"

Tony remained silent, pondering it.

Pepper felt him nod. "Yes." He said. She closed her eyes, there was no going back now. "What will you call it?" she asked.

Tony frowned; he hadn't thought of a name. "What about...Detriot Steel?" he suggested.

Pepper shook her head, "No...not catchy enough."

Tony fell silent for a few more seconds.

"Iron Patriot? You could have a red and blue colour theme, with white stars?"

Tony frowned, "Captain America beat me to it...What about...Iron Man?" and he saw Pepper consider it.

She nodded, "I like it."

"_As do I, sir_." J.A.R.V.I.S. agreed.

"Her, J.A.R.V.I.S, something we never considered changing in the VTR Unit's construction, the icing factor, try throwing in a blend of gold-titanium alloy, and vibranium." Tony said suddenly, "Throw it up on the screens." He added.

After a few minutes an image appeared on the screen, showing the new-and-improved armour, thus dubbed Iron Man, almost completely gold, save for pads over the upper arms, upper legs and knees.

"The gold is a best much, don't you think?" Tony asked indignantly.

"It mirrors your golden heart," Pepper said, smirking ever-so-slightly.

Tony grimaced, and saw the hot-rod out of the corner of his eye. "Throw some red in." He said and the image changed, the majority of it turned red, with the faceplate, arms, legs and fingers gold, the silver pads still present.

"I love it." Pepper said quietly, and Tony nodded.

"_Should I begin the fabrication process?_"

Tony hesitated, rubbed a finger across his beard, and sighed, "How long will it take?"

"_I estimate the completion process will take 10 hours_." J.A.R.V.I.S. replied.

Tony knew that was too long, Rhodey could have struck somewhere, appeared out of the blue, while Tony was twiddling his thumbs, and could kill thousands of people. But the more he sat here thinking, the less time he'd have to stop Rhodey.

"Do it."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10 – Dead Circle, 2011**

Rhodey looked at the HUD as a question mark appeared and the words "Unknown Caller" appeared in red letters in front of him.

"_Colonel?_" Black Widow's voice said.

"Widow." Rhodey replied, minimising the blank caller I.D. to the bottom left of the screen above the GPS. He glanced down at the ground below him and saw he was passing over Marbella. He knew this was Marbella because the name glowed softly at the top of the GPS map.

"_How successful was your mission?_"

Rhodey frowned, "Well I'm in the suit, passing over the south of Spain and the Mediterranean sea." He informed her.

"_Did anyone standing in your way?_"

"Yes." Was all Rhodey replied.

There was a pause in the conversation, and Rhodey flew lower, skimming along the ocean.

"_Do you know where the Arctic Circle is?_"

"Of course." Rhodey snapped.

He could almost hear Widow rolling her eyes. "_Head there. We'll find you._" She said and the call died.

Rhodey rolled his eyes and barrel rolled, turning to the left to head North-East across Italy, turning the afterburners on with a simple command to Y.A.R.V.I.S.

Soon enough Rhodey touched down on the snowy plains of the Arctic Circle. He looked around, but it was hard to make anything out with the snow whipping around him constantly, even thermal vision was having a hard time since it was so cold. He looked around, and activated the flamethrower on his left gauntlet, but it had little effect.

Even though he had a clock on the HUD of the armour, he found himself losing track of time as he used the GPS system to navigate his way across to the half-rusted-out shells of Soviet submarines. He looked at them through the faceplates eye's with a degree of sadness. He wondered if Tony had ever thought about rusting as a factor in the armour he now wore.

He looked up and around when he heard something, and saw some form of aircraft approaching through the snow; the shape loomed up upon him through the thick clouds of snow, and he brought his gauntlets up, activating the minigun on his shoulder. He heard the whirring of the gun faintly as he narrowed his eyes at the craft, thinking it to be of S.H.I.E.L.D. ownership.

He continued to watch the craft until it touched down into the snow, and a staircase descended from the rear of the shuttle and then Widow appeared, walking down the ramp towards him. Rhodey sighed inaudibly and lowered his weapons.

"You had no trouble getting here?" Widow asked him as she pulled at her coat.

"No. Why are we here?" Rhodey asked, changing the subject.

Widow rolled her eyes, "This ground is Soviet soil. S.H.I.E.L.D. has no power here. Plus this is a dead zone." She explained, "We would like to welcome you, Colonel Rhodes, to Hydra."

Rhodey blinked, then laughed, but what Widow heard was more like a mechanical grinding.

"Hydra? You mean that fantasy organisation dreamt up with the Captain America bullshit we're fed as kids in the US?" he said, "Yeah right, sweetheart."

"Hydra is very real, Colonel." Widow said flatly, "Our leader has noticed you, and would like to welcome you into Hydra, we can give you anything you want, even more power than you have now." She said seductively.

Rhodey's ears perked up at this. "I want new armour." Rhodey said, the faceplate sliding up to reveal his face as they walked up onto the craft. Rhodey stopped her as they reached the door, and he pinned her easily to the metal wall. "And you." He said darkly, his voice and eyes burning with lust for the foreign redhead.

Widow looked up at him, "What is it you want to do, Rhodes?" she asked, and rolled her eyes when a sick smirk rolled onto Rhodey's face. "I mean...with your power."

"I want to make Tony Stark suffer. I want to destroy all hope that he and the rest of America have." He asked.

"I think we can help you," Widow said, her lips brushing against Rhodey's.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11 – Iron Man versus War Machine**

The war in Afghanistan was tiring out the soldiers from Rhodey's old unit. They were advancing through a small village that was putting up a lot of resistance against them. John Walker was now the leader, giving commands the instant they were needed. The insurgents were yelling to each other and at the American group.  
"Get up there!" Walker yelled to two of the soldiers, and they nodded in agreement, creeping up the street taking cover behind cars.  
"We're pinned down, sir!" one of them yelled back.  
Walker yelled in frustration and grabbed the radio from his belt.  
"This is John Walker of the Invaders," he yelled into the radio, "We need backup! Now! We're pinned down and running low on ammunition!" he said.

The radio only crackled. With a growl of frustration, the Walker looked around for something they could do, but he looked up when he heard a sonic boom and saw a familiar shape streaking across the sky.  
"Heads up, boys!" he yelled over his shoulder, "Back up's arrived; War Machine is here!" he cheered.

* * *

Klaxons started shrieking on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Hellicarrier, causing the shocked heads of everyone aboard to look around in confusion when the automated voice rang out;  
"_WARNING. FUGITIVE CODENAME: WAR MACHINE, LIEUTENANT COLONEL JAMES RHODES ON RADAR IN AFGHANISTAN. EXTREME CAUTION._"  
Nobody had been told about what had happened, though many had formulated their own opinions about what happened, at the Triskelion, and the information hadn't yet been disclosed to the public. But Nick Fury was the only person who didn't seem in the slightest shocked about Rhodes' name being announced like this.  
He looked down at the radar, showing a fast-moving blip; War Machine, moving across the black void. He glanced at a female Agent standing beside him, "Get the Elite Agents ready, Hill." He said, and the girl nodded, then as an afterthought; saluted, and left, quickly issuing orders into a radio set.  
Fury clenched his fists behind his back and glared at the radar.

* * *

Tony was enjoying a relaxing day with Pepper, no commitments to work, nothing going on around the house; Maria was at her friend's for a dinner party, some birthday, Tony figured, but she'd been so excited to see her friends he hadn't understood their screams. He was laying on the huge white leather sofa in the main living room, with the TV on low in the background as he and Pepper talked. She was laying with her head on his chest, and his arm was snaked around her shoulders, his hand resting on her stomach.  
"Maybe we could go out for a nice quiet dinner?" she suggested.  
This caused Tony to burst out laughing, and Pepper hit him, "Come on, Pep, me? Out on a _quiet_ dinner date with my wife?" he asked, and Pepper silently conceded that he was right. She didn't like that grin he gave when he proved her wrong, which she hated to admit was slightly more often than she would like.

Tony's attention was grabbed by the TV as a news report interrupted the film they were half paying attention to, the volume was automatically raised courtesy of J.A.R.V.I.S;  
"_We can confirm that War Machine has resurfaced in Afghanistan, he is circling around the village of Bagram, where a team of U.S. soldiers called the Invaders are making their way back to Kabul_..." the voice trailed off as Tony sat up, "_We have had no comment from S.H.I.E.L.D. or the DOD on whether the appearance of War Machine has anything to do with the incident at the Triskelion in New York and the death's of Bethany Cabe..._"  
"Mute." Tony said. He looked at Pepper, almost mournfully. He looked at Pepper and sighed, "I'm sorry..." he said.

"It's okay," Pepper said quickly, brushing off his half-assed apology by cupping his face and kissing him, "Do what you have to...just...come back to us," she said, "I don't want to have to explain this to Maria."  
Tony smiled weakly, but it felt hollow. He then jumped up and ran towards the stairs down to the workshop, "J.A.R.V.I.S.?" he asked, "Give me the Mark II chest piece," he said and as soon as the doors to the workshop slid open, the chest piece was sliding out of the small safe in the wall.  
Tony lifted his shirt, carefully took out the Mark I chest piece and gasped, he swore his skin turned paper-white straight away. He quickly lifted the lighter device out of its support and clicked it into his chest. He closed his eyes and leant against the wall. "Now there's a kick..." he said weakly.  
There was a mechanical grinding; J.A.R.V.I.S. clearing his virtual-throat. Tony looked up, though he wasn't expecting to see anything, "_Sir, might I suggest, for lack of a better term; _suiting up_?_" he asked, and Tony grinned at the obvious reference to a TV show he knew Maria liked.  
"You spend too much time with my daughter," Tony said, "Let's do it."

* * *

War Machine touched down in the sand with a loud metallic _thunk_. Slowly he straightened, the red eyes and ARC Reactor glowed ominously in the silence. The guns had stopped firing; Afghani insurgents staring in fear and awe, the Invaders grinning from ear-to-ear.  
Behind the mask, Rhodey was all business.  
He brought his gauntlets up, and waved, "Gentlemen." He said, before turning and firing...straight towards his former team.  
"Everyone, scatter!" the Walker yelled and the Invaders began to dive out of the way of the shots.  
Rhodey laughed darkly and deeply, switching to thermal-vision and identifying his targets. The missile launcher popped up on his left shoulder, but suddenly there was an explosion and War Machine was sent reeling. He crashed into the burning wreckage of a car and looked up.

Walker was standing with a smoking RPG-launcher. He lowered the eyesight from his eye and looked over at War Machine.  
"What the hell, Rhodes!"  
War Machine straightened up and aimed the minigun at the cover for the rest of the Invaders and bullets began tearing through walls and burning metal, into the Invader's bodies.  
Suddenly War Machine was sent flying once more, crashing into a house, bringing the roof down on top of him.  
Walker looked up and saw a red and gold man hovering in the air, arm out stretched and the palm smoking slightly. The metal man appeared to be panting, as if he'd been in a hurry to get there.  
"_You're welcome._" Said a mechanical voice from the man, who then dropped down to the sand with the same dull metallic _thunk_ as War Machine had done.  
War Machine burst out of the rubble. "Let me guess..." he said, looking over the armoured suit before him, "Tony?" he laughed.

Behind the gold faceplate, Tony's eyes narrowed.  
"I should have guessed it would've been you who would try and stop me. I should have killed you after you came to the Triskelion." Rhodey spat, "Then I could have killed Fury, hell...maybe even the President. _No one_ would've been there to stop me." He said.  
"Sorry to disappoint." Tony replied, and used the HUD to study the VTR Unit before him. There were modifications; someone had cannibalized the suit, adding extra sensors, even thicker armour in some places.  
Tony took a surprised step back when he saw how ready Rhodey was to fight when the missile launcher popped up again. He turned off the speakers and addressed J.A.R.V.I.S. directly.  
"J.A.R.V.I.S...the suit, can you get in to Y.A.R.V.I.S.' files?" he said quickly.

"_No, sir, someone has over-written the programming, the scripting has changed and firewalls have been introduced. The operating system is too different from the original._" Tony was promptly informed.  
"What's the matter, Tony?" Rhodey asked, and though Tony couldn't see it, he knew Rhodey would be grinning sickly behind that faceplate. "Can't take control of my suit? I've got new friends now."  
Tony quickly kicked off into the air, knocking War Machine back slightly before the worn-silver man followed him high into the sky.  
Walker looked down at his radio when it crackled into life.  
"_This is General Fury, is anybody out there_?" the voice asked.  
"This is the Invaders...or...what's left of them, sir. We're done, we need medical assistance...It's War Machine...Rhodes...he's..._turned_ sir," Walker said, confused. "There's something else, there's another armoured man."

In the command centre of the Hellicarrier, Fury blinked.  
"What?"  
"_That's right, sir,_" Walker continued, "_War Machine and another armour...I didn't know Stark made another suit?_" he inquired.  
Fury was fuming. He picked up the phone on the counter and demanded Tony Stark's personal cell phone number. "I don't _care_ if it's his day off, Reynolds. I need to speak to him _right now_." He barked at Sophia Reynolds down the phone.  
"_Sir, I have an incoming call from Nicholas Fury, via Sophie Reynold's office phone._" J.A.R.V.I.S. said, the AI's voice was smooth, calm, as if he was totally oblivious to Tony's current peril.

"What!" Tony asked incredulously as he barrel-rolled through the air, closing his eyes tightly as his stomach rolled over and he almost threw up. _Might want to think about a gyro-system for the suit_, he thought, then added; _not now! You're being shot at by your best friend!_ He yelled out slightly as he heard tracer-bullets buzzing around him from War Machine's minigun.  
"_Stark!_" Fury's unmistakable tone yelled through the small speakers in the helmet. Tony rolled his eyes. "_What's the hell's goin' on, Stark? I'm getting reports of Rhodes appearing in Afghanistan_,"  
"Really?" Tony asked as if this was new news, "Well, after he disappeared he was bound to show up somewhere," he added sarcastically.  
"_Shut up, Stark. He's fighting someone dressed in what looks suspiciously like a Stark-Global VRT Unit, care to explain?_"  
"Well...I don't know what to tell ya, Fury." Tony replied quickly as he turned in the air and fired off several shots at War Machine, the line terminating.  
Fury yelled angrily as the connection was cut and glared at the monitor, showing a hazy video image from Walker's cellphone.

The repulsor blasts bounced off Rhodey's armour as he grew nearer. War Machine thudded into Iron Man and carried him through the air, the minigun began whirring again and Tony gasped, reached out, almost scared to grip it before he remembered he was wearing a near-indestructible suit of armour, and gripped the gun, pushing it away whilst landing a heavy punch to the War Machine faceplate.  
He could hear Rhodey's laughter over the roar of the wind around them. Rhodey slapped Tony's arm away and the minigun began to fire at Iron Man's face.  
Tony looked away from the bright flashes of the gun and then grunted, "J.A.R.V.I.S., route all power to thrusters..."  
"_Sir, we are down to 75% power._" J.A.R.V.I.S. informed him, it was accompanied by a bright flashing of the power percentage.

The boot thrusters powered up and tilted the two of them upwards towards the upper reaches of the sky. Tony managed to push the minigun away, and it ripped away from its connection, hanging limply from War Machine's shoulder.  
Rhodey roared and punched Tony away. Now they were in the far upper reaches of the atmosphere and Tony could see space beyond them. Movements were slow for him; the armour around him was combating against the icing factor from the coldness of space.  
War Machine was having worse luck; he was icing over, unable to move already and he could hear Rhodey yelling obscenities at him from behind the faceplate.  
Tony activated the thrusters again and floated across to Rhodey, "What are you doing, Rhodey?" he asked, not noticing how War Machine was floating back to Earth, or how the minigun was slowly beginning to turn as it hang loosely, twirling in the vacuum around them. A bullet hit Tony's faceplate and he turned away, as War Machine was pulled back to Earth.

Iron Man controlled himself and looked back, seeing a flaming ball coming towards him. Rhodey must have figured out how to break the ice, and launched a missile.  
Tony punched the missile away and watched it fly off into space. He noticed the old Richards' Corporation space-station in the far distance, only now a ripped-up husk of its former glory. He looked back down and took off down towards Rhodey, who was quickly flying away.  
"RHODEY!" Tony yelled and tackled Rhodey out of the air.  
The two of them crashed into the desert, creating a medium-sized crater around them, Tony rained punches down on War Machine mercilessly. The metal of the War Machine armour began to buckle under the weight of the punches, when War Machine kicked Iron Man off.  
They both quickly stood up and raised their hands out to each other.  
"You took the only girl I could ever love," Rhodey said angrily.

Tony frowned, "I..."  
"You're a bastard, Tony, you've only ever thought about yourself." Rhodey said, not giving Tony a chance to respond before he ran at Iron Man, tackled him over and slammed his foot down on the golden faceplate. Tony gasped as the HUD in front of his eyes crackled and cracked.  
"_Sir, I'm registering heat traces from Rhodey's boots._" J.A.R.V.I.S. said in Tony's ear.  
"Yeah, I know, he's about to take off." Tony said before his helmet was engulfed in flame.  
War machine took off into the air and flew away.  
"J.A.R.V.I.S...any luck in hacking into the VRT Unit's systems?" Tony asked, panting for breath through the heat surrounding his head as he sat up.  
"Nothing, I'm afraid, sir." J.A.R.V.I.S. said, "_Though I have been pondering the subject, and I believe you may be able to track the repulsor track from his boot jets._"

Tony thought about it, "You might be right..." he said, "It's definitely possible. Using the out-dated Stark-Global satellites. If I could get up to them, I could recalibrate them." He said, then nodded, "Right. It's time to go home." He said and stood up, taking off into the air towards the East. "J.A.R.V.I.S. scramble the playlists, just put one on at random." Tony ordered and frowned as a song began playing. "What is this?"  
"_It is called Fight As One, by Bad City, it is one of Miss Stark's favourite songs_." J.A.R.V.I.S. informed him. ***  
**Tony rolled his eyes but continued to let it play.

* * *

Once Tony was back at their Malibu home, he began working on replacement parts for the decommissioned Stark Global satellites. He worked over the night, ignoring J.A.R.V.I.S.' prompts to eat something after the fight with Rhodey.  
As soon as the new circuit boards were created, Tony began researching ways for space-travel in the armour. He would need something to carry the pieces that had to be replaced, as well as an appropriate breathing apparatus that would survive the cold of space as well as the re-entry.  
He sighed deeply and sat back, rubbing his eyes. He was aware he needed rest, but Rhodey _had_ to be stopped. This was the only way to track him, and it _had_ to be implemented as soon as possible.  
"Daddy?" asked a tired voice from the doors. Tony looked up and saw Maria standing there wearing one of his old shirts and a pair of loose-fitting jeans, rubbing her eyes. "What are you doing? Mom said you went out on a business meeting..."

Tony sighed and turned to face her, "I'm not doing anything, sweetheart," he said, smiling at her.  
Maria put a look on her face that blatantly said she didn't believe him. She padded across the black floor towards him, and Tony stood up, taking her hand, "Come on," he said and led her back towards the elevator.  
After they were in the kitchen, Tony sat Maria down, "What would you like, just don't tell your mother."  
Maria frowned, "That's blackmail, it's wrong."  
Tony looked over at his daughter from the fridge, "Who taught you to be so smart?" he asked.

"You did, dad," Maria said, her big eyes looking over at him.  
Tony smirked, "Warm milk and chocolate biscuits." He said, grabbing a the milk from the door of the fridge and filling a metal beaker to about half-way. He went to a cupboard and grabbed a tin of chocolate biscuits and laid some out on a plate for her. He sat beside her while the milk heated and they chatted.  
"So J.A.R.V.I.S. showed me this song of yours..._Fight As One_," he said, as he stole a biscuit from the plate.  
"It's good, isn't it?" she asked, "My friend said she can get tickets to see them for next year," she said, glancing over at her father suggestively.  
Tony looked at Maria with a grin on his face. She was very cheeky. "Ask your mother." He said and Maria's shoulders slumped.  
Once the milk was heated properly, he pouted it into a mug for her and ordered her back up to bed before Pepper overheard their voices.

Tony headed back down to the workshop and activated the holographic projections for the Iron Man armour and began designing a system to help him breathe perfectly in space. He voiced allowed to J.A.R.V.I.S. his observations of how the suit functioned in near-space conditions; and he noted that breathing had been rather difficult. He felt that the suit was fine, only space travel could be proved useful for NASA.  
In only a few hours the parts were made, and fitted to the Iron Man armour. The circuit boards were loaded into a make-shift backpack attached to the back of the Iron Man suit, which would shoot a circuit board into Tony's hand, and also contained self-replicating oxygen packs.  
He activated the armour and took off towards the stars. A smile came across his face as he closed his eyes and broke through the atmosphere.  
"J.A.R.V.I.S., bring up a 3-D map and locate each Stark Global satellite location." He ordered, and a slowly rotating map appeared, showing the tracking locations of each Stark satellite. It then focused on Tony's location and he swiftly began recalibrating the broadcast to track repulsor signals.

* * *

****DISCLAIMER 5****

**Bad City wrote the song "**_**Fight As One**_**" for the **_**Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes **_**cartoon TV show...if you haven't already, you should definitely check that out...**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12 – My Best Friend; The Bad Guy, 2011**

Tony was standing in the middle of the workshop, still wearing the armour, minus the helmet, which was on the table in front of him. He was staring at it, wondering what would have been if he'd just given up and allowed those bastards to kill him in Afghanistan all those years ago.  
There was a grim look on his face and a beaker of Scotch in his hand. He turned when he heard a noise behind him, and saw Pepper standing there.  
"Where've you been, Tony?" she asked, a worried tone in her voice. "I've been worried sick." She folded her arms and fixed him with her darkest glare.  
"It's my fault, Pepper." Tony said, his tone was glum, self-loathing, and it softened Pepper's expression, "What happened to Rhodey, the deaths of thousands of innocent men in wars that...it...it's my fault." He said weakly.  
Pepper went to him and put her hands on his cheeks, cupping his face and forcing him to look at her.

"None of it was your fault, you had no control over this. Rhodey made those decisions on his own, as did the decisions of the men who kill our soldiers every day." She said firmly.  
Tony sighed and nodded slightly, though it felt non-committal to Pepper.  
"What happened?" she asked softly, looking down at the charred marks from the bullets that had been fired across the faceplate of the helmet.  
"Rhodey killed some American troopers. I got there too late, but I managed to save one. Rhodey's too far gone to be saved, he's..._insane_." Tony said, draining the beaker, ignoring the drops that ran down his chin and neck, "We fought, once or twice I actually believed that he was going to kill me..." he said, his voice breaking, "I can't stop him..."

Pepper held him as best she could around the armour, and Tony held her back, though he only held her loosely out of fear of crushing her to death. He wondered if he should ask about what Rhodey said to him, about Tony "stealing" Pepper from Rhodey. He knew it was Rhodey's twisted memory of the events, he and Pepper had never been on a date, and Tony had met Pepper at a completely different time. He swallowed silently and pulled back, away from Pepper, "I came home and came up with a way to...hopefully, trace the energy used by the suit, so I can find him. I can find him and try to end this." Tony said, "I've been recalibrating the Stark Global satellites, I got back a few minutes ago...what time is it?" Tony asked.  
Pepper looked at Tony and frowned, "Nearly 1 in the afternoon...you haven't slept? It was only late last night when you left...you can't keep doing this, sweetie," she said, "Take the armour off, I'll have J.A.R.V.I.S. make us something." She said.

Tony shook his head and started to protest, "No, Pepper...I can't relax, I have to make replacement parts for the armour so J.A.R.V.I.S. can rebuild the broken parts, then...I have to find Rhodey..."  
"Anthony Edward Stark," Pepper snapped, "You will come and eat some food, and get some sleep, because you _can't_ keep doing this, it's not healthy and you're not setting a good example for your fifteen year old daughter. Do you understand me?"  
Tony sighed. "Yes dear," he said, and watched Pepper leave before initiating the removal process.

* * *

Rhodey pulled his Mercedes into the lay-by outside Maria's school in Beverly Hills, and walked into the courtyard, looking for Maria. He knew it was currently lunch time for the school, so he knew Maria would be around. She often told him about playing soccer with her friends at lunchtime on the courtyard. He spotted Maria standing on the sidelines watching her friends and whistled for her. She looked over and smiled widely.  
"Uncle Rhodey!" she said and hugged him, "Why are you here?" she added in confusion.  
"I came to take you for lunch," he smiled.  
Maria grinned, picking up her stuff she told him she had to tell reception she would be back for lessons. After this was done, Rhodey led her to his car, and politely held her door open. She wouldn't be able to tell, but there was a device installed into Rhodey's car now that would disable cell phones. Maria wouldn't be able to ring for help as he roared away with a smirk on his lips.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13 – Monster Hunting, 2011**

Pepper jumped when J.A.R.V.I.S.' voice announced that there were two LAPD officers standing at the front door. She glanced at Tony's slumbering form and sighed before getting up and going towards the door. "Police officers?" she asked quietly to J.A.R.V.I.S. as she stepped out of the door and heard it slid shut on one an automatic pusher.  
"_Yes ma'am, they were knocking for fifteen minutes before I alerted you_." J.A.R.V.I.S. informed her reluctantly.  
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Pepper snapped.  
"_I was updating my server matrices_." J.A.R.V.I.S. replied, "_I am sorry, Missus Stark_."  
Pepper sighed as a reply to his statement and went to the front door, checking her hair and breath briefly before opening it with a polite smile and a cheery, "Good afternoon, officers."

"Good afternoon, ma'am," the first replied, smiling politely, but after so many years of being married to someone like Tony Stark, and being around all the people around him, she had learn to tell when someone was lying, hiding something, or generally uncomfortable. Two out of three was good enough for Pepper. "It would be best if you invited us in, missus Stark." He said eventually.  
Pepper regarded them with suspicion, "Can I see some I.D.?" she asked slowly. She watched them pull out their badges, and glanced at the small screen just inside the door as J.A.R.V.I.S. verified their identification.  
"My name is Timothy Dugan, this is Daniel Rand," the first officer said, which matched their I.D.'s, their names glowing on the screen.  
Pepper looked back at them and smiled, "Come on in," she said and stepped back, pulling the door open wider for them. She showed them into the main lounge, "J.A.R.V.I.S. will make you tea, coffee, whatever you want," she said, as a light turned on over a table in the corner and a coffee machine silently came to life. After this the red-head excused herself to wake Tony up, who shot awake when she said the word "police," and followed her down quickly. As he stepped into the room, he stopped, recognising the first officer from about a week ago. "Officer." He greeted with a nod.

"Mister Stark," Dugan nodded in acknowledgement. "Mister and missus Stark," he said, removing his hat, "You may want to sit down.  
Tony thanked Dugan and Rand in a very half-hearted way and disappeared down to his workshop. Pepper sighed, and thanked the officers on his behalf before following Tony down to the workshop in silence.  
"Happy?" Tony's voice said clearly as she stepped into the workshop. In a moment of confusion Pepper thought her husband was talking to her, before she heard Happy Hogan's voice respond;  
"_I'm here, boss,_" Happy's voice replied through the stand-alone PA system in the workshop, which ran through Tony's personal cell phone.  
"I need you to get over here and pick Pepper up, take her to S.H.I. ." Tony said.  
"_Boss?_" Happy asked in a puzzled tone.

Pepper's jaw dropped at what he said, "No!" she said defiantly, "I'm not going anywhere while that..._monster_ has our daughter."  
Tony whirled on his wife, causing Pepper to shrink back from him, "It's _him_, Pep. He's doing this to get back at me."  
"Back at you for what?" Pepper asked, and now Tony shrank down as he calmed from his outburst.  
"He thinks I stole you, just because he may have met you first." Tony muttered and looked away.  
"_Boss, I'm on my way, I'll be there in 15 minutes_." Happy spoke up slowly, and the line went dead.  
Pepper watched as Tony stepped away towards the Iron Man assembly chamber, built into a hidden room against the far wall.  
Ten minutes later, Iron Man stepped from the room and looked across at Pepper, who shivered when the glowing blue eyes landed on her. She hated not being about to see people's eyes, be able to read the emotions in them. Especially when it was Tony. She didn't think she'd ever get used to this. She watched as he moved towards the garage entrance tunnel which led up to the driveway.

"Did you?" she spoke up finally.  
Iron Man stopped and looked back at her, his head tilting in confusion.  
"Did you...steal me?"  
The faceplate slid up as Tony sighed, "I didn't know you two had met until our first date." Tony said truthfully, and Pepper nodded slightly.  
"Where are you going?" Pepper asked as the faceplate slid back down while Iron Man turned away again.  
"_I'm going to fly to the Hellicarrier while you and Happy go to New York_." Tony's mechanised voice came.  
"_New York_!" Pepper almost yelled in shock.

Iron Man's helmet tilted forward as a nod, "_To S.H.I.E.L.D.I_" Tony said, "_It's the only safe place right now_."  
Pepper's jaw flapped but Tony had already taken off; the blue glow of the quickly fading repulsor jets turned into car headlights as the two-tone Rolls Royce pulled up in front of Pepper.  
A confused-looking Happy Hogan got out of the car, but stood holding onto the body of the machine, glancing from Pepper, to the tunnel behind him in bewilderment.  
"I'll explain on the way." Pepper said, rushing to the passenger seat.

* * *

Tony flew fast cross-country, towards the Hellicarrier, currently in place 50,000 feet above Las Vegas, hidden above the clouds. He ignored almost everything around him, except barrel rolling through the air to avoid to occasional oncoming flock of birds, or commercial air craft. While he was keeping the public's safety in mind, he couldn't waste time flying around airports and no-fly-zones.  
Aboard the Hellicarrier, klaxons started to blare as the unidentified object on the radar closed in, and touched down heavily on the deck.  
Iron Man had landed.

With one had resting on the deck, on one knee, head bowed. He stood up and looked around as S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents circled him, Stark-Global weapons aimed at him, laser targeting aimed in groups clusters around the miniature ARC reactor and the centre of the faceplate.  
Some of them looked round when they heard clapping, and Nick Fury stepped into the makeshift ring of Agents. "Very nice." He said, "I give you a 9 for appearance, 9 for the entrance, but a 3 for timing. Not a good time." He said, and the faceplate of the armour slid up, revealing Tony's face.  
Several Agents lowered their weapons slightly, lasers now pointed at the floor, while others kept their guns trained on Tony, until he shot them a death-glare.  
"It's Rhodey." Tony said bitterly, "He's got my daughter." He said and his fists tightened, the metal grinding together.  
Nick's expression hardened. "Well this changes things." He admitted.  
Tony stared him down, while Agents glanced at each other nervously. Nick nodded for Tony to follow him, and strolled cockily over towards the huge lift. Tony followed, metal boots clunking on the deck of the Hellicarrier, otherwise he remained silent.

"How do you know its Rhodes?" Fury asked eventually. "I mean...how do you know?"  
"I didn't have to be _told_ to know that it was him, Nick." Tony said, "I know it, with all my heart, my little girl was kidnapped _from her high school_ by Rhodey." Tony said as the lift reached the lowest floor, a huge room filled with computers. It took Tony about 30 seconds to register that this was the War Machine mobile-operations room, with the podium where the assembly robots stood, and a huge screen, which must be about 200 inches, with smaller ones, roughly 90-100 inches each.

Tony removed the helmet and placed it on the desk in the middle of the room, looking up at the huge holographic Earth before him.  
"Can you find him?" Fury asked.  
Tony nodded and began typing into a keyboard for several minutes, the Earth span above him but he didn't look up. He knew what would be happening a split second before it happened.  
On the holographic Earth, white lines and blotches appeared.  
"What's that?" Fury asked, arms folded.  
"Repulsor signature, both the War Machine suit and this one." He said.  
"What this called, by the way?" Fury asked, gesturing to Tony's new colourful suit, "Just so I can put it in my _report_." He added sarcastically.

"Iron Man."  
"Simplistic." Fury nodded, "You were saying...?" he waved for Tony to continute.  
Tony glanced up and continued speaking, "The white lines represent the repulsor signature trails around the world. Currently the display is showing trails for both suits, but _my_ suit is using the updated technology that I never gave Rhodey." Tony said, for the first time he was glad he'd never got around to updating the War Machine suit too much.  
Although he didn't say anything, Fury too was glad of this fact.  
"The happy thing is, that I can alter the perception of the software to pick up the out-dated trail, and find just Rhodey." Tony continued, "Although...the technology actually hasn't been tested yet." He said slowly.  
Fury shot him a glare.

"Don't look at me like that, I was busy fighting the guy in Afghanistan, then had to get home, and found spent the night traversing space updating my own hardware _and_ software, then my wife ordered me to sleep." Tony said and looked at Fury, regarding the coloured man with curiosity. "You ever been married, Nicky?"  
Fury rolled his eyes, "Got time to joke now, do we?"  
Tony grimaced, "No." He said and looked at the holographic Earth as he entered the final commands, hoping his calculations would be correct and the hardware and software changes would work. It was rare for Tony to make a mistake, but this _had_ been rushed. Boy, if Reed could see him now.  
After a painstakingly slow 3 and a half minutes, which felt like eternity to Tony, though he knew no such thing existed, but eventually, the only white trails left on the Earth were faded, older, but noticeable.

"Los Angeles." Fury said, seeing the final end of the trail, it circled the globe, from New York City to Los Angeles.  
Tony sighed, "Worse." He said, "It's the old Stark-Global weapons factory." He said bitterly. He moved quickly, a grim look on his face as he replaced his helmet, the eyes glowed again.  
"Stark," Fury barked after him. "Take a fleet of my best Agents, I'm not letting this go down without S.H.I.E.L.D. being involved.  
"_You can be as involved as you like. I'm leaving _now_. If a hair on Maria's head get's injured, you'll wish Rhodey never crossed me_." Tony threatened him and took off into the air and out of the large hole in the deck, arching through the air, twirling as he did so, and headed back South-South-West towards Los Angeles.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14 – Realisation and Remembrance, 2011**

While the expression of the Iron Man faceplate remained impassive, Tony Stark's face was set in steely determination as the American countryside blew past below him. He couldn't think clearly, he was being driver by anger; at Rhodey, at himself, and at the whole situation. Sensible thoughts tried to break through his concentration but failed; Rhodey had crossed a line. A big one. But to Rhodey, Tony had cross that line years ago by "stealing" Pepper from him. That, it seemed, had been the start of this for Rhodey.  
Perhaps Rhodey _envied_ Tony's life, more _successful_ life. Not that it was Tony's fault; being born into one of the wealthiest families in America, perhaps even the world, and having one of the top five greatest scientific minds in that same world, second to his personal friend Reed Richards.  
"_Approaching supersonic speed, sir_." J.A.R.V.I.S. informed him, but the A.I.'s words were lost on Tony.

The sonic boom was like a thunderclap to the people below him, the suit nothing but a red blur in the darkening sky.  
Tony's eyes struggled to focus as things before him became a blur as well. "_Eighty percent power remaining_." J.A.R.V.I.S. warned, but again Tony didn't register the voice, though his subconscious registered the flashing number on the Iron Man HUD.  
He found himself smiling as he thought about his daughter; the day she was born, her first birthday, when she took her first steps, missing her second birthday and the temper-trantrum she'd thrown because of it. Then turned ten and Tony wondered where the time and that little girl had gone.  
His smile faded.  
If Rhodey hurt his little girl, there'd be nothing to stop Tony, nowhere for Rhodey to run, to hide, from Iron Man. He wouldn't let up until Rhodey paid for it. Slowly, it begun to dawn on him that Rhodey wasn't there anymore; all that remained was the War Machine.

And Tony, _Iron Man_, was standing between him and the world.  
Tony focused again, this time on the lights of Paradise City in the near distance. He smirked as he remembered the Guns 'N' Roses lyrics and hummed the tune as he approached, imagining Axl Rose's voice in his head as he did so.  
He noticed the Stark Global tower and factory, set apart from the other skyscrapers of the city. Both the tower and factory were both now defunct and in-operational, for obvious reasons, though the original ARC Reactor was still running, powering down, he claimed to the press.  
In truth, Tony hadn't powered down the ARC Reactor, or ripped the buildings down, as he felt that it was one of the few links to his father that he had. Aside from the company name and that infernal hot-rod that he always seemed to find a fault with. Any excuse to take it apart again. His father created the basis of the technology in his chest, keeping him alive, how could he move on with a constant reminder like that?

He wished Howard could have met Maria, and wondered, not for the first time, how the great Stark Senior would have reacted to a seemingly-normal, perfectly-ordinary teenage girl, who was more interested in fashion, music and..._boys_, than science, education, and the family business.  
He activated the suits flaps and slowed right down as he neared the Stark Global weapons factory.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15 – Iron Man Verses War Machine (Part 2), 2011**

Inside the factory of the disused Stark Global headquarters, War Machine was waiting. He'd picked up Iron Man on his scanners when the red-and-gold idiot had blasted through the sound barrier and gone supersonic. Tony Stark was a scientist, not a military man; he'd been flying too high, and War Machine had picked up the rogue man-shaped missile. Rookie mistake.  
He turned his attention back to the machinery in front of him and continued fixing together wires and bolts according to the blueprints on his HUD.  
His plan was to get the factory operating again to fix new weapons to the armour. He'd already managed to get the machinery working in other parts of the factory; new armour plates were being manufactured, stronger weapons, upgrading artillery...all the things Tony never gave him. He was now taking it for himself.

He wanted to crush Tony Stark with the very weapons the genius' mind had created. Of course, there was the question of what after that? He could take on the country, even the world. James Rhodes, _War Machine_ and ruler of the world. He liked the sound of that.  
In the helmet an incessant beeping began, and a section of the wall towards the North of the factory caved in. War Machine whipped his head around and switched through various infrared spectrums, though none of them gave him much of a different view of the surrounding area due to the steam coming from the machinery.  
He put down the large wire he was holding and began to walk over to the hole in the wall, minigun pointed directly at it.  
War Machine felt none of the fear that he might have a few years ago. Why should he? He was wearing an invincible suit of armour, armed to the teeth. He had no reason to feel fear again. And he was ready for anything that Stark would throw at him.  
He neared the hole and peered out, switching to thermal imaging, he couldn't see anything.

There was the faint sound of hissing, which he shrugged off as being from the machinery behind him, when suddenly there was an explosion from above him and the rest of the wall caved in on top of him.  
"_That'll leave a mark_." A voice said, and Iron Man's fist punched through the rubble to pull War Machine out. "_Where's my daughter?_" he growled.  
War Machine stayed silent and ignited his thrusters, pulling a shocked Tony up from the ground when War Machine's hand gripped Iron Man's wrist. Tony yelled out when he was thrown into the air, not igniting his own thrusters in time to stop himself crashing through the ceiling.  
Tony found himself crashing into the tower, stopping short of the elevator shaft before catching himself and landing in an awkward crouch. He ran towards the hole in the wall and launched himself down at a waiting War Machine with a yell.  
They slammed into some machinery, halting production of the new, higher-fire rate minigun that War Machine had been trying to add to his suit. They pounded their fists into each other, bouncing off the floor and off of the machinery and even each other while they fought.

"_Where's my daughter_!" Tony roared as he brought a heavy-handed fist down onto War Machine's faceplate, leaving faintly noticeable scratch marks on the metal. Tony hadn't seen the missile launcher on War Machine's right shoulder power up.  
If the Iron Man faceplate had noticeable reactions and expressions, the eyes would've widened with Tony's seconds before a missile impacted against Iron Man, sending him flipping backwards into the factory.  
War Machine's thrusters sparked into life and he lifted into the air, hovering over the wreck machinery, searching around for Iron Man. After a few seconds he turned and headed back towards the finished parts to start applying them as quickly as possible, only he was tackled at the last moment.  
The two armoured men crashed into the wall, and with a mechanic grunt, War Machine launched another missile at Tony, causing him to hurl backwards, except this time he balanced himself out and landed on his feet, glaring right at War Machine.  
"_You're a fool, Tony,_" Rhodey's mechanical voice spat, "_You could have kept this power for yourself, but instead you offered it to the government as a product of peace, but instead let them turn it into another weapon. One they give to me instead._"

Tony slowly straightened up and looked at his original creation.  
"_I have to admit; I like your new suit, nice choice of colours. Is it meant to signify positivity? Something that the_ American people_ can look to for hope?_"  
"Well I wanted to go with red and blue with white stars, but I felt that Captain America would've sued the pants off me," Tony replied sarcastically, then mentally shook himself because of engaging Rhodey in banter. "Where is Maria?" he asked.  
With those words, Rhodey began to laugh, "_Closer than you think._"  
The sentence confused Tony, but the answer to his unasked question came a few seconds later when the War Machine suit straightened up and the faceplate opened.  
"DAD!" Maria screamed at Tony as his own faceplate rose.  
"Maria!" Tony yelled and started to move towards her, but was slapped by an unseen enemy.

Iron Man crashed through yet-more machinery, and into the wall, carrying on through it and into the next room, a storage area.  
"J.A.R.V.I.S.?" Tony grunted, "Can you get her out of that thing?"  
"_Negative, sir, it seems that a manual override has locked me out of its systems, and has initiated the lock-down sequence._"  
Tony gritted his teeth and looked back towards the factory floor when a large shape covered the hole in the wall. Loud mechanical whirring was going on, and all around Tony everything started to shake.  
"_Let me introduce you to _my_ design_!" Rhodey's voice came, considerably more intimidating than the previous suit.  
Large hands came through the hole and gripped the wall and pulled, ripping it away. Tony gawked at the monstrous metal ogre before him. "_Meet War Monger_." Rhodey's voice said.  
Tony looked past him and saw Maria's scared face looked at him when suddenly there was a ruckus from outside. The three of them looked up and saw the Hellicarrier bearing down on them from above.

"_You brought them_!" Rhodey roared, and with that, the War Machine faceplate snapped shut, then the body straightened and took off through the hole in the roof.  
"Don't!" Tony yelled and launched himself, literally, at War Monger, tackling the bigger suit across the factory, with Rhodey beating the huge metal fists down on Tony's back.  
Tony reared back and sneered under his faceplate as he rained fists and repulsor bolts down onto the War Monger helmet. Rhodey didn't feel a thing, and only laughed at Tony's feeble attempts to subdue him.  
"Bring her back! Let –" he yelled, stopping each time to bring his fist down, "her-" another fist, down on War Monger's face "GO!"  
With that, Rhodey let fly a repulsor bolt that sent Iron Man back, rolling to a stop, resting on his feet and a hand.

Outside, Maria was engaging the War Machine armour in combat with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, the majority of them were on the deck of the Hellicarrier.  
Inside the suit Maria was screaming, fighting to control the armour every time it moved; it raised it's right arm to fire at some Agents, forcing Maria's arm to rise with it, which she desperately tried to stop. Only to fail.  
She hoped the tears spilling from her eyes would interfere with the suit somehow, cause it to short out, but she figured her father would have thought about that. She cried uncontrollably as the armour around her fired against her will.

"_Stark! Where the hell are you? I've got every single available Agent out here fighting Rhodes and you're slacking off!_" Fury yelled through the communication in Tony's helmet.  
"It's not Rhodey! _I'm_ fighting Rhodey down here, in the factory," Tony yelled as he flew around the factory, dodging bullets and missiles from the War Monger that was bearing down on him.  
"_What are you talking about?_"  
"It's my daughter in that suit! Rhodey's got it on remote control" Tony yelled in response. "_Do not_ fire on my daughter, Fury!"  
Fury frowned indignantly, but called off the attack and inside the suit Maria's eyes widened when the Agents in front of her stopped firing.  
War Monger stopped firing at Tony and turned to look up; inside the helmet, Rhodey grimaced.  
Tony took this moment to tackle War Monger again, with a grunt they both went to the floor, nearer to the glowing Arc Reactor in the centre of the factory floor.

Rhodey grunted as Tony managed to rip the faceplate off his armour and looked into the repulsor gun of the Iron Man gauntlet.  
"Yield." Tony growled threateningly.  
Above them, Maria tried to force the War Machine armour to stop it's movements as it straightened again and shot away from the battle, up into the sky, further and further.  
Tony was thrown from Rhodey's armour and landed, once again, on his feet and hand. He took one look up into the sky and gritted his teeth as his HUD zoomed to focus on a blue glow of the War Machine boot thrusters. He looked back down towards Rhodey as the huge suit straightened, Tony saw that the helmet was empty, and quickly realised that the suit was large enough for Rhodey to sit inside the torso alone.  
Rhodey laughed, "_Bet you didn't think of this. You see, Tony, you're obsolete._" Rhodey said, and fired a missile at Tony, which he brought his arms up to shield him.

On the Iron Man HUD, the power-percentage flashed up onto the screen, marking only fifteen percent power remaining; and although J.A.R.V.I.S.' voice didn't say it, Tony knew he should stop and recharge his miniature Arc Reactor.  
However, he simply could not sit by and let his former best friend destroy all he knew, or let his daughter freeze in the upper-reaches of the Earth's atmosphere.  
Tony blinked, instantly formulating a plan; with a mental command, turned off the exterior speakers. "J.A.R.V.I.S.?" he found himself whispering, "Divert all power equally between shields and thrusters; fuck the life support."  
He dared J.A.R.V.I.S. to argue, which is just what the A.I. did.  
"_Sir, power is down to under fifteen-percent, using this power could force it to drop considerably under ten_."  
"I know, just do it!"

In only a few seconds, J.A.R.V.I.S. did as commanded, and Tony launched forward, once again bringing up his arms to shield himself from the impact as he thudded into the War Monger armour; the force of the impact over-balanced the huge armour into the Arc Reactor shell. The resulting electrical shockwave immediately knocked out Rhodey, and completely shut down the War Monger armour, and also sent Iron Man back a few feet.  
Tony blinked, forcing his eyes to focus beyond the huge red flashing "6%" that flashed on the HUD.  
He was on his back, staring up through the hole in the roof at the faint blue dot in the sky, and was up in an instant.  
On the S.H.I.E.L.D. flight-deck, Fury was among the personnel looking over the side of the Hellicarrier at the electrical explosion below, attempting to see through the clouds of smoke and steam that rose from the old factory.  
Many of them were blown back when the red-and-gold blur shot past, already breaking the sound barrier into Mach 1. Tony only hoped it would be quick enough to catch up with Maria.

Fury landed in a heap and glared up at the quickly-disappearing Iron Man.  
"_Stark, what's going on?_" Tony heard his voice, a hint of concern in his voice.  
"Rhodey's down, get down there and pull him out of that armour, I'm going after Maria. War Monger is down, but the commands are locked...I...I'm running low on power, down to five-percent...four percent..." Tony said. "Fury i-if I don't make it through this..."  
"_Shut up, Stark_," Fury interrupted, his words sharp, but his tone quiet. "_Focus on Maria. I'll get Rhodes into custody._"  
"Yessir, General Fury," Tony said with a grim tone before focusing once again. "All remaining power to thrusters, J.A.R.V.I.S.; see if you can get that suit back under control."

Maria was on the verge of giving up. The suits systems were crackling, her eyes unfocused, staring out ahead of her at the stars. She couldn't move, and as such didn't notice the suit icing up around her.  
She forced herself to close her eyes and prayed that her father would come for her.  
Tony was gritting his teeth, the strain finally hitting him; down to two-point-five-percent power and falling, rapidly. But he was quickly gaining on Maria, desperately forcing, _willing_ himself to continue on. He reached out, just as his suit packed up, and managed to grip Maria as his vision swam into shadows.  
Now he had a physical grip, signals from Iron Man crossed over with the signals from War Machine, and J.A.R.V.I.S. was able to flush out Y.A.R.V.I.S. from the suit with a reboot.

Maria gasped when she felt the suit jolt and then everything went black, save for the stars ahead of her. The next thing she knew, she was being pulled; then tumbling, back towards the Earth.  
After a few quick seconds, the suit powered back up, and J.A.R.V.I.S. addressed Maria;  
"_Good evening, Miss Stark._"  
"J.A.R.V.I.S.!" Maria cried out in joy. "Wh-where's dad?"  
"_Mister Stark, your father, is temporarily unavailable._" J.A.R.V.I.S. informed her with a regretful tone as he moved the armour to grip Iron Man in it's arms, and activated the jet thrusters. "_I am unlocking the suit as we speak, this means that when we reach the ground, I need you to get out of the suit. Do you understand?_"  
"Y-yes!" Maria said, realising she still couldn't move, and therefore, couldn't nod.

J.A.R.V.I.S. angled them down to the Hellicarrier deck, but (for the first time) miscalculated and overshot it, impacting hard with the tarmac below. Maria gasped when the suit dropped away from her, clattering to the ground around her as cars skidded to a halt around them. Maria stayed beside Iron Man, and helped pull the helmet off her father so he could breathe, if he was even still alive.  
Her father jolted awake, "Maria," he gasped, his eyes turning, as his head couldn't, to look at his daughter, "The...The arc reactor..." he said, lazily lifting a heavy arm to point to the War Machine suit, "The power...battery inside it," he gasped for air, "Replace...mine," he gasped as the Arc Reactor in his chest died, the glow fading.  
Maria moved fast, twisting the Arc Reactor from the grey chest plate and then carefully, but quickly, twisting her fathers out. He gave a dull grunt, and then cried out in joy as the working Reactor was fitted. "Dad...are you okay?" the girl asked.  
Tony stared at the dark sky, and nodded, "Thank you..."

* * *

Pepper and Happy were waiting nervously, watching while the Hellicarrier docked at the Triskelion in New York. The sun shone brightly, but Pepper couldn't feel the happiness that a cloudless sky usually brought her. Fury had personally reported to her all that he knew had gone on.  
Maria had even spoken to Pepper herself, and Pepper was thankful that her daughter was safe; but whenever she asked, no one would tell her of her husband.  
As soon as they were allowed, Pepper boarded the Hellicarrier and was shown straight to the medical wing.  
Before her, her daughter sat in a chair next to a bed, within which her husband lay unconscious. He was breathing regularly, hooked up to some fancy machinery with a Richards Corporation logo on it. There was a noise from behind her, and she turned to see Reed Richards himself, smiling kindly at Pepper. Besides Rhodey, Reed was among the few people Tony could, and would, call his friends, but Reed was the only one Tony would consider his intellectual equal.

"Hello again, Missus Stark," Reed said politely.  
"Hello, Mister Richards,"  
"As I've already told Maria," Reed said, stepping past Pepper towards her husband and daughter, "Call me Reed."  
"Then you can call me Pepper,"  
Reed smile and nodded, "I've checked Tony over, he's going to be fine, he just needs some rest." He said, putting the clipboard he was holding back at the end of Tony's bed.  
"What...what happened?"

Reed cleared his throat again, "I'm a little hazy on the details; different stories from different news agencies trying to put a different spin on it. Several claim to have quotes from an interview with Tony Stark on the destruction of his old factory when I know for a _fact_ that he's been right here since it happened. He put too much strain on his mini Arc Reactor and it ran down on power. _However_, it keeps running, even with no power, so it can recharge, but this process is slow, if I hadn't been contacted and met the Hellicarrier as he came into the Manhattan airspace, the charge on his heart wouldn't be nearly as far as it is. I have him hooked up to several machines that will help him get back on his feet, though I have a feeling that at full-charge, Tony won't feel a thing from that fight."  
Pepper had tears in her eyes, while Maria came around to hug her mother.  
"He's going to be fine, Pepper," Reed said with a smile.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16 – Rally The Reporters, 2011**

The conference hall at Stark Global was massing with people; a hundred conversations overlapping at once with phone calls and text message tones. Some people were checking their appearances in the large mirror at the back of the room; mainly the on-screen reporters, but Tony noticed some very publically vain people there as well. The mirror had been installed at Tony's request for dual-reasons, one; for Tony to see how many reporters were there to harass him some, and two; so Tony could pull faces at them and calm himself before he went up to the small podium to make his speech.

On the other side of this mirror at that very moment, was Tony Stark and Nick Fury. Tony was un-characteristically quiet, which was a given, considering the things that had happened.  
"Relax." Fury said. "You've done this a million times, why are you nervous?"  
"It's a little different now, y'know? My best friend kidnapped my daughter and almost killed her, and me." Tony retorted. He then sighed and took a very deep breath.  
"Five minutes, boss," Happy said from the doorway.  
Tony glanced at him and nodded slightly, "Thank you, Happy." He said and walked towards him to head along the corridor towards the door which led to the stage. Fury followed him, "So, Nicky, are _you_ nervous? Your first "rodeo"?" Tony asked.

Fury scoffed, "Bring it on." He said, which made Tony laugh.  
Together they went out onto the small stage and sat in their respective seats behind a long table, along which there were several senators that Tony felt didn't need to be there, several other S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel, and Obadiah Stane, Tony's second in command on the Stark Global board of directors.  
Stane patted Tony's shoulder as Tony sat down and cleared his throat into the microphone. The reporters all settled down, camera's continued flashing, or filming, depending on their purposes.  
Tony quietly cleared his throat again, "Good afternoon." He said, "I suppose you'd all like to know what happened at the Stark Global factory."

A reporter Tony recognised as Ben Ulrich, from the Daily Globe in New York raised his hand, "Mister Stark, I know everyone here would _love_ that explanation, but I think I know that everyone would rather know the answer to these questions; Was all this a big publicity stunt to draw attention to a dying company? That you originally _staged_ your kidnapping in order to put this whole thing into motion? That you yourself created that...War Monger suit for you _best friend_ so you could gain the trust of the public again?"  
Tony's jaw flapped as he tried to answer, then he smiled when Ulrich finished, "I see J. Jonah Jameson still has that multi-track mind." He said sarcastically, raising a few laughs, specifically from the teenage photographer who had managed to snap Tony's "shocked" reaction to Ulrich's questions. "No, Mister Ulrich, none of this was staged, manufactured or faked." He said.  
At this point, Fury took over, "James Rhodes is now considered a criminal, over the years he's seen a lot of combat and for some men it's just too much."  
Ulrich didn't seem satisfied. "And what do you say about the millions of pictures of you in that suit?" he addressed Tony, almost ignoring Fury.

Tony shrugged, "What are you saying? Are you calling me a superhero?"  
At his words both Fury and Stane sat towards him, murmuring under their breath, but Tony shushed them and stood up, taking the microphone with him, "Maybe I am, what's to say that I shouldn't be able to put on that suit of armour and protect the country that I live in, the country that I made weapons for to _kill_ members of other countries? Maybe this is the Stark Global way of leaving Stark Industries and war profiteering in the past." He said.  
He looked out over the crowd of faces, and they all lifted recorders and boom microphones towards him, "I have single-handedly," he paused momentarily to send a glare towards Fury, "Ushered in a new age of peace; we're all living in the Age of Iron. Well technically it's not iron, it's a gold titanium alloy, but...y'know, Iron Man would look better in all the papers, right?"  
"Mister Stark?" spoke the photographer, "I'm Peter Parker," he said, not that Tony thought he would remember that name, "So you wear an iron suit of armour, and we call yourself Iron Man...what's next?"

Tony was actually stumped by the question, "Next?" Tony shrugged, "Wait for the next disaster, and save the world."  
Stane and Fury jumped to their feet in shock, and voices crossed over each other from the reporters. But Tony hushed them all with the raise of his hand. He remained silent for a few seconds as he replayed a lot of the events of the past few months, "Have this for your headlines; I am Iron Man." He said and was immediately blinded by flashing cameras.

* * *

"Mister Stark." Senator Stern said, "I will say this again, you _must_ relinquish the Iron Man armour to the U.S. Military!" he said, his tone exasperated.  
Tony leant across the table in the courtroom, and slapped the table as he spoke, "I've told you already, you _can't have it!_"  
"And I'm asking you again, _why_?"  
Tony sighed, "You really want it? You can't have it. Check the patent, the armour, _both_ armour's are patented under the Stark name, as are the plans for my Arc Reactor," he said. "Not my _company's_ name, Senator, _my name_." Tony said with a triumphant tone, "You want them. You can't have them! They're me, I'm them; we're one. You don't like it, tough." He shrugged, like he was scolding a little boy.  
Senator Stern gritted his teeth, realising now that he was stumped, and would most likely fire the person who had looked at the documents for him.

"The only people allowed near my suits are myself, my wife and my little girl." Tony said, standing up.  
"Mister Stark this meeting isn't adjourned, please sit down." Stern said after him.  
"Yes it is," Tony said, "I've already proven the point, you can't take the suits from me." Tony said and smiled at the cameras around him, "World peace is a product of the Stark genius, ladies and gentlemen." He announced and walked out under a barrage of voices.

As soon as he was outside, he felt the vibration of his phone in his inside-jacket pocket. "Hello?"  
"_Well, well, Anthony Stark_," said a familiar voice.  
"Nicky, I haven't heard from you since the press hearing, what can I do for you? Not weapons, I hope?"  
"_There's some trouble, in the Nevada Desert, we could use some Stark Tech to help us._" Fury said.  
Tony thought about it, "Vegas? Sure, I'm on my way."  
"_Oh, and Tony? You don't need to bring your new suit._" Nick said with a hint of amusement in his voice.  
Tony frowned a little, "I'm on my way." He repeated and hung up, heading straight for his Audi R8 coupé.


End file.
